Targeted on TikTok: Fitness influencers encouraging teenage boys to inject livestock steroids
A TikTok video shows a shirtless 16-year-old in a gym, needle in hand as he injects cattle steroids into his arm. Personal trainers and medical experts warn it’s alarmingly common.
A concerning trend has emerged on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, where teenagers are being exposed to the promotion of a potent steroid used to bulk up livestock.
A News Corp investigation can reveal how fitness influencers and teenage boys openly promote the muscle-building steroid that’s banned for human use internationally.
The drug has serious side effects, including permanent stunt bone growth and can trigger serious mental health problems. There’s also strong links to aggressive and violent behaviour, and impulsivity regulation.
But despite all of this, a quick scroll through social media and use of the steroid is widespread.
In one TikTok video, a shirtless 16-year-old stands in a gym changeroom, needle in hand as he injects the drug into his arm, while commenters cheer him on.
In fact, dozens of influencers promote “30-day cycles,” complete with QR codes linking to illicit online suppliers that require no proof of age.
Theo Fedele, a personal trainer and TikToker from Sydney’s southwest, says fitness influencers frequently promote steroids without mentioning the risks.
“These influencers almost prey on teenagers who want to get bigger,” he said. “It’s not just about money – sometimes it’s just rage bait to get views and comments.”
He says steroid promotion is rampant in gym-related content:
“Every second video has a guy who obviously does steroids.”
Recently, a 16-year-old who had been training for just three weeks approached him at a Sylvania gym and asked about steroids.
“I was like, ‘you’re still in puberty’.”
He describes many teens as “naive,” taken in by influencers chasing ad revenue and engagement through provocative content.
Professor Gary Wittert, Mortlock Professor of Medicine at the University of Adelaide and a senior consultant endocrinologist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, said the idea that adolescents are using steroids is “deeply disturbing.”
“(This particular steroid) is not approved for human use, and it’s among the most potent and dangerous androgens,” he said. “It’s not just harmful to the body – it causes long-term changes to the brain’s wiring and hormonal regulation.”
Professor Wittert said it can permanently close growth plates in bones, meaning boys trying to bulk up could end up shorter as adults.
“That, along with infertility, aggressive outbursts, and liver disease, are all live risks in this quest for an adolescent male to look – or perhaps just feel – like a man.”
The steroid trend hasn’t emerged in a vacuum. According to the 2022–23 Australian Secondary Schools Survey, one in 50 young people aged 12 to 17 reported using performance or image-enhancing drugs in the past year.
Testosterone – legally prescribed only for clinical deficiency – is heavily marketed online through unauthorised dosing advice, private pathology referrals, and medical misinformation.
Professor Wittert said many users are drawn to steroids not just for appearance, but to compensate for underlying emotional distress.
“There’s often an underlying emotional disorder – insecurity, anxiety, low self-esteem – that makes people vulnerable to steroids. But steroids don’t fix that. They can actually make those issues worse.”
“You might end up more muscular, but also more anxious, more angry, and less able to control yourself.”
A 2023 Butterfly Foundation survey also found two in three teens expressed a desire to be more muscular.
Professor Ivanka Prichard, a psychology academic at Flinders University, said the muscular ideal for young men has become more extreme, a shift reinforced by social media and steroid-pushing influencers.
“The ideal has changed from a V-shape – broad shoulders tapering to a slim waist – to a hyper-muscular build,” Dr Prichard said.
She recently co-authored a study linking appearance-focused social media use in adolescent boys to increased steroid risk.
“Just look at how much action hero dolls have changed over time. This is what boys are now comparing themselves to.”
Dr Prichard also added that parents play a key role in countering the influence of steroid-pushing content. That includes normalising healthy body functionality, promoting media literacy, and encouraging critical thinking.
“You need to talk to your child about what they’re looking at, why, and how it makes them feel,” she said.
“Encourage them to ask: Is this realistic? Who is profiting from this content?”
She also suggests reframing the conversation to focus on what athletes achieve, not just how they look.
“Ask them: who inspires you – and what do they do well? Not just what do they look like.”
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Originally published as Targeted on TikTok: Fitness influencers encouraging teenage boys to inject livestock steroids
