Content Warning: In depth discussions of eating disorders
“We do not allow showing or promoting disordered eating and dangerous weight loss behaviors”
These words, written in bold typeface, are one of the first sentiments declared within Tik Toks community guidelines regarding Behavioral and Mental Health. As of late, if a user searches for certain tags reminiscent of the ones utilized by pro-anorexia and pro-bulimia tumblr users in the early 2000’s they will be met with a support page and a redirect to NEDA’s resource site (The national eating disorders association.) To the untrained eye, this might seem like an example of another social media company finally cracking down on the perpetuation of harmful content on their platforms. Those still falling victim to the consequences of the algorithm’s willingness to provide a home for diet culture might argue otherwise. While explicitly hashtag searching might have become more complicated, finding a back
door to this type of content through more subtle vocabulary, Kcal, cal, what I eat in a day, and several other hashtags, isn’t difficult. Once these videos are introduced into the algorithm, everything tik tok preaches in the realm of safety is discarded. It would be unwise to eliminate social media content and
creators who are simply being honest about the complications and darker parts of eating disorder recovery, but one would argue that there’s a line to be drawn between raising awareness towards a growing danger and glorifying it. Tik Tok is seemingly having a difficult time defining it.
There’s often a certain type of aesthetic that comes with this short form content. Pinterest quotes and images of sliced cucumbers in heart shaped bowls played in tandem with audio taken from popular movies such as “Girl Interrupted” and “To the Bone.” While some are created with the intent of sharing the mental and physical difficulties of struggling with disordered eating, many others are utilized for motivation, as users attempt to romanticize these disorders and turn them into something that looks more
attractive in order to dilute the suffering associated with it. Another duality can be seen with What I Eat in a Day— type videos that can commonly serve as fun logs to give viewers ideas for new recipes and try unfamiliar things. However integrated within a certain subgroup, it turns into a competition, a question of how few vegetables and sticks of gum can sustain a person, when what an individual is eating turns into how much. Workout routines quickly go from excessive to dangerous as users who aren’t even consuming
enough calories for their bodies to operate sedentarily are running mile after mile, doing endless reps of push ups and sit ups and still ending their videos telling their audience that they didn’t try nearly hard enough. Another trend involves teenagers taking photographs from inside their families fridge, typically fully stocked, and confessing how difficult it is to maintain a lifestyle of starvation with so much temptation so close by. These posts typically include “inspiration photos" of the user's desired fridge and
cabinet stock, unsurprisingly barren.
There’s a heavy shame from thinking about food and binging when an individual is going so long without. People struggling with anorexia and bulimia are often frustrated by how their brain works: fantasizing about what the disorder won’t allow them to have. But focusing on food when being
malnourished is not a sign an individaual's internal programming being flawed from birth. It’s the body's desperate effort, a survival instinct, to signal to the brain that it’s lacking the nutrition and energy it needs.
One of the largest issues that come from this trend being prevalent on a social media platform is the “social” aspect of it. The algorithm pushes those who are suffering from eating disorders into the same sort of communities which can allow for those recovering to find support, but can also push videos that encourage dangerous behavior to those already struggling to cope, setting up yet another triggering hurdle to the already difficult road to healing. Unfortunately the comments closely reflect the audience being
reached by the latter occurrence. It’s incredibly rare to find individuals calling out harmful posts when such concerns are buried under thick layers of envy and encouragement. Strangers telling one another in the comments to go on week-long fasts, purge their food, and trust Ana, ensuring that the final product–one that will never truly be—will be worth it. It only becomes worse when save counts come into play. Thousands of users store away these posts and severe calorie deficit challenges in what one can only imagine is in an attempt to motivate themselves to continue when the pain becomes overwhelming. Beach Bunnies Prom Queen is a popular audio used in this sort of content. A sad irony that a song aimed at providing a commentary on unrealistic beauty standards is being used to perpetuate them. Another, hailed
as a main theme of sorts, is Patrick Bateman’s quote from American Psycho “You can always be
thinner… look better.”
But that line is inherently false. That thiness and insatiable desire to be perfect, as well the wide span of mental and physical health complications that come from eating disorders can and does kill.
According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, eating disorders take the lives of 10,200 people a year with that number still steadily growing. Dealing with disordered eating isn’t romantic. It’s not pretty. It's walking on shaking legs and always being out of breath, it’s turning down requests from friends for dinner because of how terrifying it is to eat in the presence of another, it’s not being able to focus, it’s constant body checking, depression, anxiety, and isolation, its tooth decay from vomiting, hair loss, and trying every supplement under the sun regardless of it’s side effects. When food becomes the sole enemy and focus, it’s difficult to enjoy the very act of existing. But recovery isn’t easy, not when our society has programmed us to lean on diet culture and unsustainable
habits just to feel presentable enough to be out in public and convince ourselves that we have some semblance of control. No one deserves to feel as if taking the basic measures necessary for self care is shameful. Yet too many, across all backgrounds, do.
Tik Tok has an ongoing moderation problem. The largest method of maintaining the guidelines the platform has set out for its users comes from software that can flag content with certain trigger words such as “Pro Ana” , “Pro Mia”, and “thinspo”, all hashtags Tik Tok has banned. But users have found ways to work around them by intentionally misspelling words associated with those same topics. It becomes tricky for human moderators to keep up when another fire erupts the second the last is put out, and while reporting content is incredibly important, it can’t catch everything. The best long term solution would be for Tik Tok to invest in more human moderators who can consistently comb through content, but until then the best course of action for those struggling with an eating disorder or someone who is vulnerable to relapsing, is to block the hashtags that perpetuate harmful content, mark triggering videos as not interested, and try not to engage with such videos when they appear on the for you page, as the algorithm will register and act on that data as interest. That being said, while following a similar protocol across platforms can help with prevention, the most surefire way to avoid triggers generally means spending some time apart from these apps altogether.
It’s important to understand that anything having to do with mental and physical health is a nuanced issue, and just because someone looks healthy doesn’t mean they aren’t suffering. Awareness is essential, including being transparent about the turbulence that comes with it, and not all content surrounding eating disorders on Tik Tok encourages harmful behavior. There are several creators documenting their recovery journeys and encouraging those struggling to do the same by offering a positive community and online support. Trained professionals, nutritionists, and licensed therapists are
also joining the platform to correct misinformation and offer resources. Content creators, many of them survivors of eating disorders, such as William Hornby, Emily Coburn, and Meg Ronnie are normalizing healthy relationships with food and self love which can support individuals on their journeys to recovery. Tik Tok has the opportunity to use its platform for good by doing everything they can to create an honest and safe space for education and growth, but that can only happen if the content still promoting these
disorders is properly addressed. It’s a matter of putting the wellbeing of vulnerable social media users and their audiences first.
Note: The best person to consult on the path to recovery is a trained medical professional who specializes in the field and can give you advice and resources tailored to the unique aspects of your situation. Always
approach information on social media with caution and know that what you see is very rarely the full picture. To those struggling, you are not alone. If you or someone you know may have an eating disorder, there are organizations that can help.
Resources
- https://www.allianceforeatingdisorders.com/
- https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/get-help/
- https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/eating-disorders
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