‘It spreads like a illness’: how pro-eating-disorder movies attain teenagers on TikTok | TikTok

IInstagram attracted a firestorm after whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed internal research showing the platform downplayed evidence of its toxic effects – including the rise in eating disorders – on children.

But such problems aren’t limited to Facebook’s own social media company. The Guardian has found that a large number of malicious pro-anorexia hashtags remain searchable on the popular TikTok video-sharing app, which has collectively received billions of views.

TikTok does not officially allow content that promotes or glorifies eating disorders, and enforces such a ban through human and AI moderation. The platform imposed additional restrictions on weight loss ads in 2020 after being criticized for promoting dangerous diets, and launched a program in March to connect users looking for hashtags related to eating disorders to a hotline.

But at least two dozen problematic hashtags have managed to slip through the cracks, the Guardian found.

  • Fourteen of those hashtags were part of a series of 22 hashtags identified by the SumOfUs advocacy group as advertising eating disorders on Instagram in September. More than a month later, they were still active on TikTok.

  • Another 11 hashtags relating to disordered food content that was not on Instagram were also active on the platform, including #skinnycheck with 1 million views, # size0 with 1.4 million views and #thighgapworkout with 2.6 million . Call.

  • Additionally, many users seemed to deliberately misspelling popular hashtags promoting unhealthy eating after they were banned to circumvent the new regulations. For example, after the platform banned the hashtag thinspo – short for “thinspiration” – users began to use #thinspao and # thinsrpø.

  • TikTok’s own search feature suggested some of the popular hashtags used to bypass censorship and prompted the user to search for “thinspao” if they simply type “thin” in the search bar.

  • Other seemingly innocuous hashtags like #caloriedefecitsnacks and #weightlossprogress are full of problematic content encouraging users to limit and count calories. The simple hashtag #skinny has 1.7 billion views and leads to a number of weight loss videos.

“TikTok as a platform is currently flying under the radar,” said Bridget Todd, a spokeswoman for UltraViolet, a women’s advocacy group.

“Everyone knows Facebook and Instagram have tremendous potential for harm to a younger audience, but we don’t talk enough about the dangers of these newer platforms,” ​​she added.

‘More dangerous than Instagram ‘

Todd said that compared to Instagram, TikTok might actually be “more dangerous” due to the demographics of its users. The video app exceeded 1 billion monthly active users in September, 60% of whom are between 16 and 24 years old.

TikTok-specific features have raised a number of concerns unique to the platform, research by UltraViolet found. TikTok’s “For You” page, a feed of videos from account users that may not even be followed and recommended by an algorithm based on viewing history, allows problematic content to be “trending” with little friction ” will. For example, an experiment by the Lowy Institute found that TikTok’s politically neutral feed became conservative and right-wing extremist in just one day by repeating, liking, and sharing certain content.

The Guardian’s efforts to delve into the contents of the diet resulted in full-blown eating disorders promotion in less than 24 hours. The popular hashtag #WhatIEatInADay, for example, soon led to #ketodiet videos – then to more restrictive diets and finally to openly unhealthy hashtags like #Iwillbeskinny and #thinspoa.

Todd said TikTok’s use of augmented reality camera filters can also contribute to negative body image, especially among young girls. While both Snapchat and Instagram have stated that they won’t allow filters that promote or mimic plastic surgery, TikTok has dozens of beauty filters that young girls can use to change their skin, face shape, body shape, and more.

“This is helping to create an impossible standard of beauty,” she said.

“No space for half measures”

UltraViolet has launched a petition that has garnered more than 2,000 signatures asking TikTok to turn off such filters on teenagers’ accounts. The organization has also urged TikTok to remove all advertising for weight loss and nutritional supplement products, asking them to prevent loopholes for hashtags for disordered eating and to provide resources from accredited medical and nutrition authorities on potentially inflammatory content.

“When you’re dealing with a really young and impressive user base, there’s no room for half measures,” says Todd. “We need to make sure that this is handled sensibly, and that means that this content is not allowed on the platform.”

A TikTok spokeswoman said the platform is working to balance the censorship of problematic content with efforts to promote content related to preventing eating disorders and avoiding removing some eating disorder hashtags that could be used for educational purposes.

TikTok is partnering with the National Eating Disorders Association to bring educational resources to users and restrict ads for fasting apps and weight loss supplements, she added. “The well-being of our community is very important to us and we strive to foster a community in which everyone not only feels included but also celebrated,” she said.

Jonna Nielsen, 17, who lives in Pennsylvania, said she was struggling with an eating disorder by the age of 15 that she believes was made worse by social media.

Her symptoms began to worsen after viewing a variety of diet and exercise content on Instagram. The algorithm then led her to further posts on food restrictions, intermittent fasting, and finally, explicitly pro-anorexia content such as how to hide an eating disorder from parents.

After spending several months in a recovery center, Nielsen said her illness was in remission. But when she got back to her “normal life,” she downloaded TikTok to connect with friends and was quickly plunged back into similar content.

“Everyone said how thin they were, that they didn’t eat, and I felt left out,” she said. “I wanted to stay well, but I’ve started to envision the mindset that if I didn’t look like I wouldn’t be good enough.”

Nielsen mentioned one of TikTok’s most popular trends, #WhatIEatInADay. The hashtag contains thousands of videos with a total of 8.9 billion views, including a popular Kylie Jenner video with 14.7 million likes.

“People use #WhatIEatInADay to brag about their diet, and often there isn’t even enough food for a toddler,” said Nielsen. “It ruins the idea of ​​what it means to be healthy for people my age.”

Nielsen said she felt that her eating disorder was triggered not only by the explicitly pro-eating disorder hashtags, but also by the unrealistic standards of beauty being pushed by the app. In the past, TikTok’s algorithm and moderators have been shown to favor content from thin, white users.

“It ruins people’s lives”

TikTok, paradoxically, is also home to a wide variety of eating disorder recovery communities. TikTok promotes positive content with in-app highlights from hashtags such as #bodypositivity with 15.3 billion views and #bodyacceptance with 214 million views.

A creator of the platform went viral in 2020 for her “Eat with Me” series, which encouraged users recovering from eating disorders to unite on the app to make healthy eating choices. Hashtags like #edrecovery are also popular with users who document their struggles with eating disorders.

However, health experts say that such content could have drawbacks as well. A study by the National Institute of Health published in January found that videos on pro-anorexia have a clearly negative impact on users, but so do “anti-pro-anorexia” videos, which are intended to raise awareness of the consequences of anorexia , can cause eating disorders.

“Our case shows how paradoxically even these safer videos lead users to emulate this ‘guilty’ behavior,” the study said.

Nielsen said she sees many users supposedly sharing recovery from eating disorders while – intentionally or not – promoting some of the behaviors they claim discourage.

“It’s almost as bad to see these recovery accounts that are really just seeking attention by talking about how little they weigh or how bad their eating disorders are – that doesn’t really help people with recovery,” she said.

Nielsen said she permanently deleted TikTok, Instagram, and all other social media because she believes they are impossible to use in a healthy way.

“It spreads like a disease,” she said of eating disorders. “One person talks about it, then another gets the idea to do the same. These platforms have to crack down because it ruins people’s lives. “

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