TikTok bans #SkinnyTok, but unhealthy content persists : Shots

Social media platform Tiktok recently banned the hashtag #skinnytok after warning that it was advertised by European regulators Unrealistic body images And extreme weight loss. The company has seen an onslaught of content featuring weak young women on how to quickly lose weight.

There may be no more hashtags now, but eliminating this kind of harmful content is not so simple. There is still no shortage of people spreading unhealthy information on Tiktok and other social media platforms about how to eat fewer calories and get very thin.

Research shows that this type of content is consumed on social media It is correlated with High risk of eating disorders. Young women and girls are particularly vulnerable.

However, when it comes to nutrition and wellness, it can be difficult to solve unhealthy people from health.

“There are many types of content in the grey zone.” Brooke Erin Duffya person studying social media and culture at Cornell University. “Their regulations are much more difficult.”

Creators are good at using this dark ground, says Duffy. “As soon as the platform attempts to regulate or disrupt hashtags, anyone using the platform will develop a workaround,” she says.

For example, a popular meme called “I eat in a day” features people who show daily food intake. The post can feature a balanced diet or a meal that can make someone dangerous calorie deficits. One young woman recently posted a video showing a single croissant she lived in for a day, while another woman balances lean protein and vegetables, plus up to 1,800 calories.

Body Positive Measures

Some creators at the forefront of body image battles have their own anti-programming. Kate Gravan, an athlete and creator with nearly 150,000 followers, urges his followers to take the dangers of malnutrition-enhancing content seriously. She discusses her struggle with eating disorders in her video.

“Many creators explicitly promote anorexia in their audience,” says Graban. Recent Tiktok videos. “It’s dangerous. You’re being given misinformed,” she says, and she encourages people to “block these creators.”

Research shows that there is anorexia The highest mortality rate Mental disorders.

However, researchers studying this issue say Body Positive Content They don’t get the same kind of audience or profit. “Negative images that are unrealistic, show truly thin people, or show truly muscular people tend to have more lasting effects than body-positive content,’ Amanda Lafour says, A researcher on eating disorders and social media at the University of Toronto.

The message that equates thinness with beauty is reinforced throughout society, says Raffoul.

Raffoul points Proposed research Consumption of body-positive content on social media does not protect or counter unrealistic beauty standards or content that promotes weight loss.

“The way you structure your content and code how you amplify certain types of messaging and target certain types of messaging to specific users put that information in the hands of more vulnerable people,” says Raffoul.

Even though the platform doesn’t create content, Raffoul says, how are they responsible? Amplify aggressively Directed with different types of messaging or specific demographics.

Tiktok declined to ask for an interview for the story, but in the email, he emphasized the statement in the email saying, “Since linking to unhealthy weight loss content, we have regularly reviewed “safety measures to address evolving risks” and blocked search results for #SkinnyTok.” Searching for this term on the platform is National Alliance for Eating Disorders.

Among other safety strategies, the company says it continues to partner with the Advocacy Group, which not only restricts videos on teenage accounts and redirects searches to health professionals, but also provides strategies for eating disorder recognition and treatment.

The lost battle

Some body-positive warriors say this movement is having a low moment. “Large scale GLP-1 drug rise And their extensive use as a quick fix weight loss solution, we’ve seen this return in the story that Thin is back.” Megan Jane Club, Author of recently published books We’re not making ourselves small here. “Beauty standards have been turned towards extreme slimness,” says the club.

Crabbe still creates content on social media, but she says it’s hard to break through with messaging that normalizes a larger body than she did a few years ago. She is happy to see #skinnytok being banned, but she says she thinks she needs to look for more souls on the issue of beauty standards from Western culture. “I think banning hashtags is a surface level plaster to very deep scratches,” she says. “We are still deeply greasy phobia as a society.”

Some content creators say the difficult battle with negative content about diet and skinny bodies is exhausting. “I’m not really claiming that anymore.” Nyome Nicholas-Williams, of the term “body positivity.” Nicholas Williams – a black woman and a plus size model – feels she’s been pushed out of the movement that black women have started, but she says she’s been saying since then It has been adopted. “I’m like ‘body neutrality’,” she says.

Nicholas Williams in 2020 It has been published Social media platform Instagram accuses content of censoring content featuring black plus size models with different standards than those used for content featuring white slim people. The company issued an apology and has pledged to change its policy.

Nicholas Williams says some of her public criticisms of social media platforms likely cost her business, but she believes opposition to dangerous content is an important strategy to combat it. “People are talking and brave,” she says.

Rahoor, a researcher at the University of Toronto in nutrition and social media, says he shouldn’t overlook his profits. “Every minute you spend on these platforms is monetized,” says Raffoul. Raffoul points out that ideals about eating disorders and unattainable thinness have existed for decades, but social media platforms enable new distribution systems.

Raffoul believes lawmakers need to force change to create meaningful protection from dangerous content through these new channels.

Until that happens, she says the best strategy to fight it is to not see it at all.