As gender has become one of the ideological divides that shaping politicals and society worldwide in recent years, social media has become a primary arena where gender antagonism happens. While empathy is often seen as a remedy for prosociality, its effectiveness in promoting gender equality online remains uncertain. Therefore, to understand the role of empathy and how individuals' attitudes towards gender are influenced by social media, this study examines how social presence on social media shapes gender attitudes, with empathy as a mediator and gender as a moderator. Grounded in technological determinism and social presence theory, this study views social presence as both a technological and psychological construct.


A cross-sectional survey of 225 young adults was conducted using validated scales, including measures of social presence, empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index), and ambivalent sexism. Mediation and moderation analyses were performed using structural equation modeling, and group analysis was conducted to explore gender differences.


Findings reveal that social presence positively predicts empathy, but empathy in the social media context may inadvertently reinforce sexist attitudes potentially due to in-group favoritism and deindividuation. Although gender did not significantly moderate the proposed pathways, group analysis revealed notable differences: men showed a stronger reliance on social presence to enhance cognitive empathy, In contrast, women, with higher baseline affective empathy, were less influenced by external cues.


The study demonstrates that social presence operates differently across genders: it serves as a cue-dependent technological tool to trigger cognitive empathy in men, whereas for women, it functions as an embodied amplifier for affective empathy. Moreover, results address an emerging challenge that the current configuration and intersection of social media may inadvertently increase sexist attitudes by amplifying empathy toward same-sex groups. They highlight the need for transdisciplinary approaches to platform design and digital interventions that foster inclusive empathy and mitigate online antagonism.