In its latest attempt to address claims that the app encourages negative body image among youth, TikTok has suspended search results for the hashtag #SkinnyTok in response to pressure from European regulators.
Posts that show the consequences of disordered eating are being removed by TikTok.
In response to increasing criticism from European Commission-affiliated regulators, the ByteDance-owned app has banned the #SkinnyTok hashtag, which was used to spread videos that promote negative body image ideas.
Following a call from France's digital minister in April, the European Commission looked into the #SkinnyTok trend, citing worries that the app was glamorizing anorexia and encouraging extreme thinness.
Apps like Meta's Instagram and TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese tech behemoth ByteDance, have long been criticized for their algorithms, which determine and cater to users' interests, which may unintentionally target vulnerable young women with images and videos that encourage eating disorders and unhealthy body image.
In April, thousands of videos celebrating unhealthy and unrealistic female body ideals were posted under the #SkinnyTok hashtag, which quickly gained popularity.
In addition to the long-standing popularity of diet pill and steroid-like drug videos, the #SkinnyTok recordings raised larger worries about the detrimental impact of the social media business on juvenile body image.
Critics claim that despite the apps' years-long efforts, they have not gone far enough in blocking and rerouting phrases like "thinspo" to mental health services.
Just over a year after European Union officials launched an investigation into TikTok for possible violations of child-protective online content regulations, the #SkinnyTok probe surfaced. The inquiry is still under progress.
Regulatory agencies quickly began to take notice of #SkinnyTok. The hashtag was brought to the attention of the European Commission by France's Minister of State for Digital Affairs, Clara Chappaz. Chappaz encouraged the Commission to take action against harmful body image attitudes and referred to #SkinnyTok as "unacceptable."
The company claimed that to keep vulnerable individuals from falling down the so-called rabbit holes of these films, it also attempted to break up repeating content patterns associated with severe activity and weight loss.
Others contend that social media companies eventually put retaining young people glued to their apps in order to increase advertising revenue, while several experts have commended TikTok's efforts, notably the ban on specific beauty filters for teenagers that it introduced late last year.
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Beyond the more existential concerns about its survival in the US, the change serves as a reminder that TikTok still has the usual issues that beset social media platforms. According to a federal statute established last year, TikTok will have until mid-June to reach an agreement to split from ByteDance or risk being prohibited in the US altogether.