TikTok launches probe into pro-starvation and anorexia content: Report

TikTok has launched an investigation after The Guardian highlighted that pro-eating disorders content is still available on the platform despite the company announcing measures to combat "problematic" and "exaggerated" diet and weight loss claims earlier this year. The Guardian reportedly informed the Chinese video platform about the loopholes that users can misuse and find anorexia content on the platform. TikTok has launched an investigation into the findings and had allegedly banned harmful phrases. 

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In September, TikTok had announced that under the company's new advertising policies, it will ban ads that promote a harmful or negative body image and will increase restrictions on weight management products. "As a society, weight stigma and body shaming pose both individual and cultural challenges, and we know that the internet if left unchecked, has the risk of exacerbating such issues," TikTok said in a statement on September 23. 

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'Deeply disturbing' 

However, The Guardian claims that pro-starvation and unsafe weight-loss content are still available on the platform if users know how to game the search algorithm. According to the UK daily, if banned phrases are searched by deliberately misspelling the words, several accounts promoting eating disorders pop-up. Even the same can be done by misspelling hashtags on the platform. 

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Dr. Jon Goldin, vice-chair of the child and adolescent faculty at the Royal College of Psychiatrists has described the findings as "deeply disturbing." Goldin called on regulators to be more active in banning such harmful content. Meanwhile, Ysabel Gerrard, a lecturer in digital media and society at the University of Sheffield, said that it is very easy for users to find eating disorders content, suggesting TikTok itself will suggest hundreds of videos on the For You page if someone follows the "right account."

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