Content warning: discussion of eating disorders
Social media algorithms are targeting those vulnerable to eating disorders, increasingly suggesting extreme content to its users. With UK university students spending six hours a day on average connected to their phones, body and food ideals are quickly becoming too much to escape.
Algorithms quickly target individuals prone to disordered eating with content that fosters dangerous habits. A study on how people with eating disorders experience algorithms found algorithms “spam” and “bombard” them with body-related content. Unless proactively trying to reshape their feeds, participants found content exacerbated the motivators and behaviours related to their illness.
The content described in the study included ‘what I eat in a day,’ ‘fit check,’ and health and wellness videos. These videos portraying food or outfit inspiration may appear harmless, but they can incite eating disorder symptoms, including comparing eating habits, ‘body checking’ (the monitoring of your own and other people’s figures), or obsessing over eating or exercise habits.
The impacts of body-related content can be seen with the virality of diabetes medication in pop culture. Medications like Ozempic (a GLP-1 drug) have become popular because of its weight loss effects. Endorsements by celebrities also promote the benefits of the medication solely for this purpose.
Posts on TikTok referencing the drug garnered over 40m views, showing how the algorithm and the public normalises and fantasises about extreme and induced weight loss. The result of this can be seen in the United States, where 38 per cent of the drug prescriptions were off label, meaning they were prescribed not for the official use. Although not necessarily dangerous, the phenomenon of making health and body-related decisions from social media shows how people may be influenced online.
According to a 2024 study, 24 per cent of an influencer’s audience has less than a three year age difference with the influencer. Content creators are likely to be consuming the same media online, increasing the circulation of body-related content which perpetuates eating disorders. A University of Edinburgh student noted that influencers were likely unaware the content they created was a reflection of their own obsession with their body image or food.
“They don’t realise but [influencers are] obviously showing how thin they are, not the clothes,” they said, regarding clothing and outfit inspiration videos. Unlike those posting on ‘pro-ana’ community boards in the early 2000s, the content now can be more persuasive because of how subtle and constant it can be, they noted.
‘Food noise,’ the internal monologue putting food at the centre of your life, is a key feature of eating disorders. Through social media, algorithms make these overwhelming thoughts increasingly addictive and inescapable. In a study by the University of Melbourne, dieting content on TikTok was 322 per cent more likely to be offered to those with a diagnosed eating disorder. The serving of dangerous rhetoric was also targeted at young people and especially women, who are more likely to experience body image issues. This shows the algorithm acts as both a catalyst for, and an immense barrier to recovery from eating disorders.
Paradoxically, searching for body positivity content on TikTok can expose users to disordered eating content. This makes it difficult for users to censor, placing the responsibility onto companies which profit from the algorithms. TikTok has one of the most responsive algorithms; the platform’s short form content style and addictive algorithms makes the content even more harmful. A study found it takes less than ten minutes of watching ‘pro-anorexia’ content from TikTok to internalise its messages. This has resulted in one in 40 per cent of teenagers in the UK saying social media caused them to worry about their body image.
Although content promoting eating disorders isn’t new, from women’s magazines publishing weight-loss tips to online discussion threads, social media is more implicit, meaning users are unconsciously consuming the rhetoric. As social media use and awareness about eating disorders has increased, eating disorder prevalence has skyrocketed, with diagnosis amongst 17 to 19 year olds increasing from 0.8 per cent in 2017 to 12.5 per cent in 2023.
The social responsibility of social media platforms to minimise these issues has been increasingly prevalent in political discourse. Spain, France, Austria, and Denmark have announced plans in the last year to place national age restrictions on social media following Australia’s under-16s ban in December.
As part of the public call for increased regulation of social media platforms, the UK introduced the Online Safety Bill in 2023. While the bill aims to enforce online services to minimise the publication and accessibility of content promoting eating disorders, UK charity Beat Eating Disorders suggests this is not enough. Beat argues the bill continues to allow algorithms to target users vulnerable to body image issues and permits content which may implicitly trigger those with eating disorders. This content, often produced by users and disguised as health advice, is instead increasingly more difficult to escape.
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