Latest / Mini Scroll / TikTok as The New Tumblr: How Social Media (Overtly) Counters The Body Positivity Movement

Transcript

TikTok as The New Tumblr: How Social Media (Overtly) Counters The Body Positivity Movement · Mini Scroll

• 0:00
  In February of this year, a new trend called leggings legs began
• 0:04
  circulating on TikTok. The trend saw many women
• 0:07
  discussing and sharing what they considered the ideal size and
• 0:10
  shape of legs for wearing leggings.
• 0:13
  Women of all ages joined in, posting videos of themselves in
• 0:16
  leggings and asking viewers whether they have the coveted
• 0:20
  leggings legs. For millennials and zillennials,
• 0:22
  this trend felt eerily similar to the days of Tumblr and the
• 0:26
  pursuit of a thigh gap or bikini bridge.
• 0:29
  Although Internet culture has evolved since then, embracing
• 0:32
  diversity through the body positivity movement, the
• 0:35
  leggings legs trend seemed to echo the old harmful standards.
• 0:40
  The women deemed to have the ideal leggings legs all had
• 0:44
  slender, long legs, implicitly suggesting that without a thigh
• 0:48
  gap, leggings are not a cute look.
• 0:51
  The backlash was swift and extensive.
• 0:54
  Critics argued that trends like leggings legs push negative body
• 0:58
  image and unrealistic standards. The comparison to diet culture
• 1:02
  norms of the 2000s prompted calls to suppress the trend,
• 1:06
  which TikTok responded to by removing videos from hashtag
• 1:09
  search results and replacing them with links to resources
• 1:13
  about eating disorders. The leggings legs trend is part
• 1:16
  of a troubling history of harmful body image content
• 1:19
  online, leading many users towards pro Ana content and
• 1:23
  online communities championing eating disorders.
• 1:26
  While TikTok is praised for its ability to catapult creators
• 1:29
  from diverse backgrounds to fame, the algorithm has
• 1:32
  consistently shown a bias towards problematic trends often
• 1:36
  perpetuated by white, thin creators.
• 1:39
  This raises two key questions. Why has TikTok become so toxic
• 1:44
  for body image? And has Gen.
• 1:46
  Zed's favorite platform become a Tumblr 2 point O from Centennial
• 1:51
  world. I'm Lauren Meisner, and this is
• 1:54
  Infinite Scroll, a podcast about Internet culture, the creator
• 1:57
  economy and how social media is taping Gen.
• 2:00
  Z Welcome back to Infinite Scroll, everyone, and welcome to
• 2:05
  a bit of a heavier episode. I know we've been getting into
• 2:08
  these kind of deeper episodes lately, but I think they're
• 2:12
  really important. And there has just been so much
• 2:15
  discourse online about how it feels like so much of the
• 2:19
  progress that culture made after the 2000s, like quote, UN quote,
• 2:23
  heroine chic, how that feels like apps like TikTok have just
• 2:26
  completely dismantled that progress.
• 2:28
  So today I wanted to discuss that and look at the reasons
• 2:33
  possibly behind that and if TikTok is actually as toxic as
• 2:38
  2000s Tumblr. So as always, Please remember to
• 2:41
  rate, review and subscribe. It means so much.
• 2:44
  It helps us grow. It helps us keep going.
• 2:47
  It helps me pay my team and, you know, bring these episodes to
• 2:51
  you guys every single week. Please also sign up to our
• 2:54
  newsletter, which is called Infinite Scroll.
• 2:56
  On Fridays, we round up the five biggest thing pieces on the
• 2:59
  Internet from that week and join our Geneva group, also called
• 3:02
  Infinite Scroll, where you can chat with other people who are
• 3:05
  obsessed with Internet culture and drama and tea and you guys
• 3:08
  can chat with me. So there were so many comments
• 3:10
  from YouTube that I wanted to read because I was obviously off
• 3:14
  for two weeks, but I can't read them all for you guys here
• 3:17
  today, so I will just read 1. So Laurie's wandering mind said
• 3:20
  you 1000% deserved a break, but I am so glad you have my
• 3:24
  favorite daily dose of pop culture back in my feed.
• 3:27
  My days felt like they were missing something while you were
• 3:30
  away. So sweet, thank you so much.
• 3:33
  I am definitely excited to be back.
• 3:35
  It was a much needed break, but I am happy to be back in
• 3:39
  routine. So before I start, I do want to
• 3:46
  issue a trigger warning. This episode contains
• 3:49
  discussions about body image, weight loss, disordered and
• 3:52
  restrictive eating, self harm, and other topics that listeners
• 3:55
  may consider traumatic. Click out now if you are not in
• 3:59
  that headspace. Pop culture has always had a
• 4:02
  complicated relationship with beauty and body standards.
• 4:05
  Take a moment to cast your mind back to the early 2000s, though.
• 4:09
  The problematic exchange between pop culture and body image parks
• 4:12
  back a lot longer than that. Through this era, we saw women
• 4:16
  like Jessica Simpson, Kate Winslet, and Britney Spears
• 4:19
  labeled as overweight for being a size small instead of maybe an
• 4:24
  extra extra small. This messaging left many young
• 4:27
  girls and women insecure, highlighting the media's long
• 4:30
  standing role in warping our perceptions of beauty and
• 4:33
  shaping what is considered acceptable in society.
• 4:36
  While Gen. Z might romanticize this era and
• 4:39
  all the aesthetics that come with it, much of the messaging
• 4:42
  around body positivity was toxic and harmful.
• 4:45
  This largely stemmed from the way beauty standards were
• 4:48
  dictated, with magazines and consumer brands calling the
• 4:51
  shots. In the pre social media era,
• 4:54
  these large conglomerates decided which celebrities from
• 4:57
  Cindy Crawford to Angelina Jolie, were the beauty standard.
• 5:00
  These women were always presented as flawless, which of
• 5:04
  course meant thin and more often than not, white.
• 5:07
  By promoting an aspirational beauty standard, companies could
• 5:10
  convince consumers to buy into whatever they were selling,
• 5:13
  whether it was a product or a mine set.
• 5:16
  As a result, media representation in the early
• 5:18
  2000s was narrow and exclusionary, something many of
• 5:22
  us are all too familiar with. Fighting against this reality,
• 5:25
  body positivity activists were working tirelessly for these
• 5:28
  different corporations to embrace diversity.
• 5:31
  In a piece for Vox, Anna N details the rise of the body
• 5:34
  positivity movement, marking 2008 as a turning point on
• 5:38
  social media. It was at this time when many
• 5:41
  activists, a majority being women of color, started posting
• 5:44
  different photos, those essays and poetry across Facebook and
• 5:48
  Tumblr, attempting to quote, normalize being bigger.
• 5:51
  While this shift was happening online, N notes that mainstream
• 5:54
  culture was moving toward body positivity.
• 5:57
  Around the same time, in 2004, Dove launched its now famous
• 6:01
  Campaign for Real Beauty, which featured a diverse group of
• 6:04
  women posing in their underwear. She explains all of the women
• 6:08
  had hourglass figures, were relatively young, and appeared
• 6:11
  not to have physical disabilities.
• 6:13
  Still, none was intentionally model skinny, and a campaign
• 6:17
  showcasing even somewhat larger bodies was relevatory for the
• 6:22
  time. While brands have made strides
• 6:24
  in promoting inclusivity since then, it often feels like little
• 6:28
  more than a box ticking exercise.
• 6:30
  As social media gained momentum and became the primary culture
• 6:34
  driving force, users could chart their own course rather than
• 6:37
  having a magazine editor do it for them.
• 6:39
  This led many to follow creators and brands that embraced
• 6:42
  diversity. Internet users just wanted to
• 6:45
  see real people who looked like them, and from a commercial
• 6:48
  standpoint, it made sense for companies to follow these cues
• 6:51
  from consumers. Nevertheless, those who profit
• 6:54
  from people's insecurities, namely the weight loss in
• 6:57
  cosmetic industries, continue to make more money than ever.
• 7:00
  This isn't to say that progress isn't welcome, but rather that
• 7:04
  inclusivity on social media might be more of a veneer of
• 7:07
  diversity than anything substantial.
• 7:10
  But the illusion of inclusivity online was truly shattered in
• 7:14
  2020 thanks to TikTok. Previously, many of us might
• 7:18
  have suspected that platforms had a hand in shaping what
• 7:21
  content was promoted. However, their influence wasn't
• 7:24
  fully apparent until TikTok started to define the cultural
• 7:28
  zeitgeist. Platforms had been moving
• 7:30
  towards algorithm driven feeds for years, away from
• 7:33
  chronological timelines and focusing less on posts from
• 7:36
  friends or people you follow. But Tik Tok's for You Paige took
• 7:41
  this to a whole new level. We were now being served content
• 7:44
  specifically typically designed to keep us on the platform.
• 7:47
  And if there was one thing new media could learn from old
• 7:50
  media, it's that consumers can't resist the aspirational,
• 7:54
  consistently engaging with content that promotes
• 7:57
  unattainable lifestyle and beauty standards.
• 7:59
  For many, therefore, TikTok found itself in a strange
• 8:02
  position trying to balance the move toward inclusivity within a
• 8:06
  media environment that frequently works against it.
• 8:09
  But with an increasingly analytical and demanding user
• 8:12
  base, diversity was more of an expectation than an option.
• 8:15
  This meant TikTok had to push aspirational messaging in a more
• 8:19
  subtle, covert way. And of course, this could be
• 8:22
  done through the O elusive TikTok algorithm.
• 8:25
  The way the TikTok algorithm actually works remains a mystery
• 8:29
  to most of us, with the company refusing to share many details.
• 8:33
  However, in 2020, The Intercept leaked internal documents from
• 8:37
  TikTok detailing the posts being pushed out to users.
• 8:40
  Journalists Sam Biddle, Paolo Victor Ribeiro, and Tatiana Diaz
• 8:45
  revealed that there were quote algorithmic restrictions for
• 8:48
  unattractive and impoverished users.
• 8:51
  The documents that were reportedly written in Chinese
• 8:54
  and translated into English showed that moderators were told
• 8:57
  to suppress content featuring people with quote, ugly facial
• 9:01
  looks, too many wrinkles, abnormal body shape or
• 9:04
  backgrounds featuring slums or dilapidated housing from
• 9:08
  appearing in users For You pages.
• 9:10
  Before The Intercept released these documents the German site
• 9:14
  Netspolitik org had made similar claims, reporting that TikTok
• 9:18
  was limiting the reach of users, specifically those who might be
• 9:21
  identified as disabled, fat or LGBTQIA plus.
• 9:26
  Allegedly this was part of a wider anti bullying strategy on
• 9:30
  the short form video app. We all know bullying is a huge
• 9:33
  issue on TikTok, but this policy was widely seen as misguided and
• 9:37
  exclusionary. Quote the suppression took
• 9:40
  different forms. For its users, it meant that
• 9:42
  their videos were not shown outside their native country.
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  For others, it kept the content from Tik Tok's most popular
• 9:48
  algorithmic feed the public for you page after they had hit a
• 9:52
  certain view count. Generally it was applied to
• 9:54
  specific videos, but some high profile users were singled out
• 9:58
  and given the unasked for protection, Alex Hearn explains
• 10:02
  for the Guardian. After Netspolitik broke the news
• 10:04
  in 2019, a spokesperson for TikTok confirmed that the policy
• 10:08
  had been in place, telling the BBC.
• 10:10
  Quote In response to an increase in bullying on the app, we
• 10:14
  implemented a blunt and temporary policy.
• 10:16
  This was never designed to be a long term solution and while the
• 10:19
  intention was good, it became clear that the approach was
• 10:23
  wrong. The spokesperson then went on to
• 10:25
  say that the app had removed the policy.
• 10:27
  Quote in favor of more nuanced anti bullying policies.
• 10:31
  IN2020A TikTok representative echoed a similar sentiment to
• 10:34
  The Intercept, explaining that the policy was part of the
• 10:37
  platform strategy to limit harassment.
• 10:40
  The representative also stated that the policy had been retired
• 10:43
  by the time the documents were obtained contained.
• 10:46
  However, the intercepts journalists remained skeptical,
• 10:48
  noting quote these documents contain no mention of any anti
• 10:53
  bullying rationale, instead explicitly citing an entirely
• 10:57
  different justification the need to retain new users and grow the
• 11:02
  app. Since the intercepts report,
• 11:04
  there haven't been any significant leaks about Tik
• 11:07
  Tok's algorithm favoring certain types of content based on
• 11:10
  appearances. However, conversations around
• 11:13
  political suppression and censorship on the platform have
• 11:16
  been circulating, and with the rise of algo speak, it's
• 11:19
  something we're all familiar with.
• 11:20
  But we'll save that for another episode.
• 11:23
  Even though the so-called ugly content policy has been retired,
• 11:27
  users still see signs of this bias in the algorithm.
• 11:30
  Many of Tik Tok's biggest stars, like Charlie d'emilio and Alex
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  Earl are white and more often than not, thin.
• 11:36
  While we as users play a role in making these creators famous,
• 11:40
  the algorithm seems to create a biased feedback loop for many of
• 11:44
  its users. AI researcher Mark Fadul offered
• 11:47
  some insight into this process back in 2020.
• 11:50
  As reported by BuzzFeed News, Fadul found that after following
• 11:53
  a new account on TikTok, users were shown other recommended
• 11:56
  accounts to follow, often mirroring the same ethnicity and
• 12:01
  even hair color of the original profile.
• 12:04
  In this context, if the most popular influencers are white
• 12:07
  and thin, it's easier for another white thin creator to
• 12:10
  gain followers than for someone from an underrepresented group.
• 12:14
  And so the the loop continues. While this might not be the case
• 12:18
  anymore, if TikTok was once boosting creators who looked
• 12:21
  similar to those who were already famous, it was even
• 12:24
  harder for people who didn't fit the typical and unattainable
• 12:28
  beauty standards to gain recognition on TikTok.
• 12:30
  And nowadays, the platform is so over saturated, who is to say
• 12:34
  that we will ever see another user rise to the same level of
• 12:38
  fame as someone from the first Gen. of TikTok creators to begin
• 12:41
  with? That being said, when we look at
• 12:43
  the body positivity niche on TikTok, the biases of the
• 12:46
  algorithm are clear. Many of the creators that became
• 12:49
  famous on the platform are conventionally attractive based
• 12:52
  on Eurocentric beauty standards, and the messaging that was
• 12:55
  pushed continued to uphold these standards to an extent as well.
• 12:59
  In fact, a 2022 study conducted by US based academics at
• 13:03
  Pepperdine and Florida State universities found that a vast
• 13:06
  majority of body positivity videos on the app Quote
• 13:09
  portrayed young white women with unrealistic beauty ideals.
• 13:13
  The researchers note that quote A, approximately 95% of the
• 13:17
  videos analyzed embodied Western culturally based beauty ideals
• 13:21
  somewhat or to a great extent, while 32% of the videos
• 13:25
  portrayed larger bodies. On top of this, there have been
• 13:28
  reports that when curvy women post the same type of body
• 13:31
  positivity content as more petite women, they are more
• 13:34
  likely to end up getting flagged for violating community
• 13:37
  guidelines, only further suppressing the subset of users.
• 13:42
  In her piece for Vox, N acknowledges how frustrating
• 13:45
  this has become for TikTok users, explaining how quote many
• 13:48
  young people today say the term body positivity has been Co
• 13:52
  opted by thin, white or light skinned celebrities and
• 13:55
  influencers, The same people whose looks have been held up as
• 13:59
  the beauty ideal for generations.
• 14:01
  Consider Sienna Mae, arguably one of the most famous body
• 14:05
  positivity creators to come out of TikTok, as an example.
• 14:08
  Sienna skyrocketed to popularity in 2020 after posting dance
• 14:12
  videos, often filmed while she was sticking her stomach out.
• 14:16
  Since then, she's moved away from this type of content,
• 14:18
  especially after a social media hiatus following allegations of
• 14:22
  sexual assault and verbal abuse by her ex, Jack Wright.
• 14:25
  Nevertheless, when Sienna first went viral at just 16 years old,
• 14:29
  many comments under her videos were positive.
• 14:32
  Young girls struggling with eating disorders said that her
• 14:34
  content inspired them to eat a meal, and others said that they
• 14:37
  felt validated by seeing their body type represented on TikTok.
• 14:41
  Quote For millions of teen girls, Sienna May is an
• 14:44
  inspiration, someone who makes it feel OK and even aspirational
• 14:48
  to let their stomach jiggle while dancing or highlight the
• 14:51
  parts of their bodies they've been trained to feel terrible
• 14:54
  about. Rebecca Jennings writes for Vox
• 14:56
  in 2020. But as Jennings continues,
• 14:58
  Sienna had become part of a trend where quote thin women
• 15:02
  were encouraging followers to have confidence in their own
• 15:04
  bodies. While this type of content
• 15:06
  Sienna was posting likely had some positive effects, it also
• 15:10
  led to criticism from users who felt Sienna had Co opted the
• 15:14
  body positivity movement. Sienna herself had acknowledged
• 15:17
  this backlash, saying she didn't want to be the face of a
• 15:20
  movement that wasn't intended to include someone like her.
• 15:24
  But through no fault of her own, this is exactly what she would
• 15:27
  become. With that being said, Sienna's
• 15:29
  rise as Tik Tok's leading body positivity creator reflects a
• 15:32
  deeper issue. While the online world often
• 15:35
  bills itself as diverse and inclusive, in reality,
• 15:38
  exclusionary, misleading, and aspirational content continues
• 15:42
  to drive today's creator economy.
• 15:44
  Just as as it always has. And Tumblr is a case in point.
• 15:49
  Thinking back to Tumblr, this platform had some of the most
• 15:52
  harmful niches on the Internet through the 2010's, many of
• 15:55
  which promoted dangerous messaging around body image.
• 15:58
  We've already done a deep dive into the history of Tumblr, from
• 16:01
  its rise and fall to its resurgence among Gen.
• 16:04
  Z, so if you're interested, definitely go back and listen.
• 16:07
  One key take away from that episode was that while Tumblr
• 16:10
  was undoubtedly a cultural touchstone for years, it also
• 16:14
  had a much darker side. Many users, particularly tweens
• 16:18
  and teens, found themselves in circles that glamorized self
• 16:22
  harm, mental illness, and eating disorders.
• 16:25
  As they scrolled through their dashboards, users were often
• 16:28
  bombarded with images of thigh gaps, extremely flat stomachs,
• 16:32
  and text posts with troubling mantras.
• 16:34
  Reblogging and repeatedly seeing this imagery conditioned many
• 16:37
  young girls to believe that thin was the only acceptable body
• 16:41
  type. This belief gave rise to the
• 16:43
  Tumblr girl stereotype, which was characterized by struggles
• 16:47
  with mental health and body image.
• 16:49
  These issues were frequently romanticized as a noble
• 16:52
  struggle. The widespread nature of this
• 16:55
  content was incredibly dangerous.
• 16:57
  Even those who didn't actively seek it out would still stumble
• 17:00
  upon it. As a result, many Tumblr users
• 17:03
  would go on to exist on the fringes or within pro Anna and
• 17:07
  pro Mia communities. These spaces, short for Pro
• 17:11
  Anorexia and Pro Bulimia, would host blogs that glorified,
• 17:14
  encouraged and promoted various eating disorders, self harm and
• 17:18
  other self-destructive behaviors.
• 17:20
  Legal academics Thomas Fitzgerald and Marilyn Bromberg
• 17:24
  explained this niche on the Internet for The Conversation.
• 17:26
  Writing that quote. These pro Anna websites endorse
• 17:29
  anorexia as a positive choice as opposed to a mental illness.
• 17:33
  They give advice about how to become anorexic, how to hide an
• 17:37
  eating disorder from others, and how to diet.
• 17:39
  The websites contain images of extremely thin women, which are
• 17:43
  sometimes altered to make the women men appear thinner.
• 17:46
  Now, we don't need to get into every detail of what went on
• 17:49
  within these communities, but much of the content was split
• 17:52
  into two categories. Means PO and Sweets PO.
• 17:56
  According to Reddit users who were previously members of Pro
• 17:59
  and a Tumblr communities, Means PO was essentially harsh, often
• 18:03
  cruel statements meant to make users feel bad about themselves
• 18:06
  and trigger them. On the other hand, Sweets PO
• 18:09
  offered a more deceptive form of encouragement with messages like
• 18:13
  you're beautiful. Now just imagine how gorgeous
• 18:15
  you'll be when you're finally skinny.
• 18:18
  Of course, there were also several extremely thin women and
• 18:21
  girls who became idolized in these communities as thin
• 18:24
  inspiration. One of the more mainstream
• 18:27
  figures was Eugenia Cooney. Since 2013, Eugenia has become
• 18:31
  known for her bubbly personality, cosplay, emo
• 18:34
  fashion, and beauty content. But she has also had to navigate
• 18:38
  an endless stream of comments and videos expressing concern
• 18:42
  for her health. Scrolling through Eugenia's
• 18:44
  social media profile, it becomes clear that she suffers from some
• 18:47
  sort of eating disorder. While her condition was a focus
• 18:50
  of a Shane Dawson documentary back in 2019, it's not a topic
• 18:54
  she is typically addressed on her own.
• 18:57
  Though Eugenia's intentions appear well meaning in that she
• 19:00
  doesn't directly promote disordered eating, she has
• 19:02
  always been a polarizing figure online.
• 19:05
  Throughout her career, there have been numerous petitions for
• 19:08
  her to be deplatformed, claiming that she is promoting and
• 19:11
  profiting from her eating disorder.
• 19:12
  Given that she has long been popular among Anna circles, with
• 19:16
  many users touting her as their thin inspiration, critics argue
• 19:20
  that Eugenia sets a harmful precedent for her followers,
• 19:23
  especially young girls. This kind of criticism is
• 19:25
  something that many pro Anna advocates and communities have
• 19:29
  come up against repeatedly over the years.
• 19:31
  While users and platforms have made efforts to limit the reach
• 19:34
  of these communities, the content is notoriously difficult
• 19:37
  to monitor. Despite Tumblr's policies over
• 19:40
  the years specifically targeting blogs that quote, glorify, or
• 19:43
  promote anorexia, bulimia, and other eating disorders, the
• 19:46
  content continues to slip through the cracks.
• 19:49
  The integration of hashtags on platforms like Tumblr have also
• 19:52
  helped grow these communities, as they allow for easier
• 19:55
  navigation towards specific kinds of content.
• 19:58
  With that being said, users often outsmarted moderation by
• 20:01
  deliberately misspelling popular pro Anna hashtags.
• 20:04
  Sociologist CJ Pascoe even likened attempts at moderation
• 20:09
  to a whack a mole game, where shutting down one blog simply
• 20:12
  led to another popping up in its place.
• 20:15
  While Tumblr worked to protect the safety of its users through
• 20:18
  these policies, some journalists and Internet users were
• 20:21
  concerned about the users within these communities if they were
• 20:24
  banned. Finding like minded people
• 20:26
  online can be incredibly powerful, especially during your
• 20:29
  teen years when everything feels so unpredictable and so
• 20:32
  unstable. As Kelly Burdett writes for Vice
• 20:35
  in 2012, removing spaces for self harm to be discussed will
• 20:39
  further alienate those who participate in these behaviors.
• 20:42
  Sure, talking about starving yourself on your Tumblr is
• 20:45
  unhealthy, but without Tumblr, that person may just continue
• 20:48
  starving themselves in isolation.
• 20:51
  Having said that, pro Ana communities were particularly
• 20:54
  dangerous because they brought together individuals who were
• 20:57
  often grappling with or vulnerable to mental illness.
• 21:00
  Rather than offering support through healthy channels like
• 21:03
  therapy or rehab, these communities frequently
• 21:05
  encouraged maladaptive coping mechanisms and harmful messaging
• 21:09
  around body image. Regardless, if you search for
• 21:12
  problematic hashtags like #thinspo or hashtag hashtag pro
• 21:15
  Anna on Tumblr today, you're redirected to a page offering
• 21:19
  resources for eating disorders. But despite these efforts, users
• 21:22
  can still choose to quote view search results where the same
• 21:26
  toxic images and mantras continue to circulate, hidden
• 21:30
  under clever misspellings like thinspo with AY or skinny with
• 21:34
  an exclamation mark replacing the eye.
• 21:36
  When we compare Tumblr and TikTok, it's clear that Tik
• 21:39
  Tok's negative messaging around body image is much more covert.
• 21:43
  Rather than being blatantly pro to Anna, TikTok has historically
• 21:47
  promoted harmful body image ideals under the guise of body
• 21:50
  positivity or algorithmic bias. As journalist Laura Pitcher
• 21:54
  rightly puts in a piece for Nylon quote, the nature of pro
• 21:58
  Anna content can often be insidiously disguised as thin
• 22:01
  SPO tips or Wellness trends to promote healthier living.
• 22:05
  This means teenagers may be exposed to pro Anna content
• 22:08
  without realizing. Pitcher points out how specific
• 22:11
  trends like what I eat in a day, videos and outfits of the day
• 22:14
  can sometimes have harmful effects.
• 22:16
  With Wellness culture being such a major part of social media
• 22:19
  these days, she highlights how difficult it can be to
• 22:22
  distinguish between pro Anna eating Diaries and those that
• 22:25
  simply promote healthy habits. Clean eating rhetoric is so
• 22:28
  synonymous with today's Wellness culture, it can be hard for
• 22:31
  users to differentiate what videos are contributing to the
• 22:34
  problem. It's also nearly impossible to
• 22:37
  determine the intentions of a person from a 15 second video,
• 22:40
  she continues. Additionally, get ready with me
• 22:43
  Videos or outfits of the day often involve body checking.
• 22:47
  That is, the compulsive act of scrutinizing your body by taking
• 22:50
  pictures or videos while also hoping to gain feedback on your
• 22:54
  body from others. Body checking isn't a new
• 22:56
  concept, but it has become increasingly common on TikTok,
• 23:00
  subtly reinforcing unhealthy habits under the guise of
• 23:03
  everyday content. Quote On TikTok body checking is
• 23:07
  so normalized it almost feels organic.
• 23:09
  Chandler Plante writes for Pop Sugar.
• 23:12
  The journalist points to fit checks as the quote biggest
• 23:15
  culprit of body checking on the platform, noting that the
• 23:17
  context provides the quote influencer plausible
• 23:20
  deniability. Who's to say that subtly lifted
• 23:23
  shirt or lingering zooms on specific body parts aren't done
• 23:27
  in the name of fashion? This kind of covert messaging
• 23:30
  continues on the platform. However, over the past few
• 23:33
  years, there's been a shift more overt.
• 23:36
  Pro Ana content has started to make the rounds on TikTok.
• 23:39
  To avoid spreading inaccurate information about the these
• 23:42
  communities, we've looked to various online threads where
• 23:45
  people familiar with this side of the app have shared their
• 23:47
  insights. Browsing through subreddit
• 23:49
  specifically, we've seen a number of posts from users
• 23:52
  asking why anorexia is becoming a trend on TikTok.
• 23:57
  In one of these threads, users point out that most of the Pro
• 24:00
  Anna content they encountered on TikTok appeared coincidentally,
• 24:03
  highlighting just how powerful the algorithm is and how easily
• 24:07
  it can lead users down dangerous rabbit holes.
• 24:09
  Quote Most people on Reddit are relatively safe from not seeing
• 24:13
  pro and a content unless they actively look for it With
• 24:16
  TikTok, the algorithm can end up pushing it to young and
• 24:19
  impressionable children. I once saw a 12 year old trying
• 24:22
  to lose weight to a goal weight that was dangerously low and
• 24:26
  it's sad and scary, the Reddit user shared.
• 24:29
  Aside from exploring different algorithmic biases, we've talked
• 24:33
  about the way that the for you page can send viewers down
• 24:36
  dangerous paths before, specifically in our spiritual
• 24:39
  psychosis episode. Even though Tik Tok's algorithm
• 24:41
  remains somewhat of a mystery, many of us have figured out tips
• 24:45
  and tricks to tailor it to our preferences, whether that's by
• 24:48
  clicking, not interested, or engaging with certain videos.
• 24:52
  Despite that, the algorithm is constantly learning from our
• 24:55
  behavior, what we like, comment on, follow, or how long we spend
• 24:59
  on a video, and uses this data to serve us some more of that
• 25:02
  same type of content. In terms of how the algorithm
• 25:05
  can lead users towards Pro Anna and other related Ed content,
• 25:09
  fitness and Wellness reporter Talia Minsberg Berg explains the
• 25:12
  slippery slope in a piece for the New York Times quote.
• 25:16
  If a teenager searched for healthy snack ideas or
• 25:18
  interacted with certain cooking posts, a platform may serve
• 25:22
  videos about low calorie foods that may signal an interest in
• 25:26
  weight loss. And soon, that teenager might
• 25:28
  see advice for restricting snacks or tips for crash diets.
• 25:31
  A user's feed could be filled with posts supporting unhealthy
• 25:34
  behaviors or celebrating one body type over others.
• 25:38
  Some of these Tik Toks might include low calorie food ideas,
• 25:41
  tweetspo or meanspo edits, and weight loss progress stories.
• 25:45
  On the flip side, it may also show recovery oriented creators,
• 25:50
  many of which Reddit users have praised as a source of
• 25:53
  inspiration and support within Tik Tok's Ed centric
• 25:56
  communities. Despite these positive
• 25:58
  influences, toxic content still persists, revealing just how
• 26:02
  challenging it is to moderate and control this kind of
• 26:05
  messaging on the platform. Quote While there's a great Ed
• 26:08
  recovery community there there are a few really toxic I
• 26:12
  remember one of my comments being body checking on the
• 26:15
  hashtag Ed recovery tag for what because there were girls who
• 26:19
  would claim to be recovered and then post videos of literally
• 26:22
  their collarbones or just focusing on their waist.
• 26:25
  Another Reddit user added 22 year old Liv Schmidt is an
• 26:29
  example of one such toxic creator on TikTok.
• 26:32
  Liv is a New York City based creator who rose to fame this
• 26:35
  year by sharing her devotion to staying thin with video topics
• 26:39
  like 6 Things I Do to Stay Thin and and How to Not Let Yourself
• 26:43
  Go while working a nine to five job.
• 26:45
  Despite having no health and fitness qualifications, Liv
• 26:48
  gained over 670,000 followers for creating shock value content
• 26:53
  about weight and dieting. But it was her overtly harmful
• 26:57
  language and her very open fat phobia that propelled her to
• 27:01
  viral status so quickly. A strong tell that we might not
• 27:04
  have progressed as much as we thought from the 2010's Tumblr
• 27:08
  era. Though Liv was recently
• 27:10
  deplatformed from TikTok, it took months for the app to do
• 27:13
  anything about her content, and the damage was already done.
• 27:17
  Like Tumblr, TikTok faces issues with harmful content slipping
• 27:21
  through moderation. TikTok community guidelines
• 27:23
  officially prohibit quote showing or promoting disordered
• 27:27
  eating and dangerous weight loss behaviors.
• 27:29
  Through 2020 and 2021, the platform restricted weight loss
• 27:33
  ads and introduced a feature that provided helpline numbers
• 27:36
  to users searching for eating disordered related hashtags.
• 27:39
  In 2022, TikTok pledged to remove videos promoting
• 27:43
  disordered eating behaviors like short term fasting and excessive
• 27:47
  exercising. However, by 2023, researchers
• 27:50
  and experts were still criticizing TikTok for failing
• 27:54
  to protect young users from content encouraging eating
• 27:57
  disorders. That is to say, pro Anna content
• 28:00
  has always been present on the platform, but it has gained
• 28:03
  noticeable momentum in recent months.
• 28:05
  There are a couple of reasons for this.
• 28:08
  As a culture, we have unfortunately shifted away from
• 28:11
  body positivity content. While diversity remains
• 28:14
  important and body positive communities still exist across
• 28:17
  social media, the overall visibility of positive messaging
• 28:21
  around body image seems to be fading.
• 28:24
  This isn't exclusive to TikTok. Google trend data shows that
• 28:27
  global searches for body positivity have been on the
• 28:30
  decline since May 2021. While this could be partly due
• 28:34
  to increased familiarity with the movement, there are also
• 28:38
  some more insidious factors at play.
• 28:41
  For instance, the body positivity movement really went
• 28:44
  mainstream as a rebellion against the beauty standards of
• 28:47
  the early 2000s, often referred to as heroin chic.
• 28:51
  Thinking back to this era's It girls, the ideal body was
• 28:54
  designed with thin white women in mind.
• 28:57
  Paris Hilton and Kate Moss are some of the most notable
• 28:59
  examples. While body positivity helped
• 29:02
  show the beauty of different body types, skinniness never
• 29:05
  really went out of style. Over the past year it has
• 29:08
  noticeably resurfaced, accompanied by the revised of
• 29:12
  early 2000s fashion trends like low rise jeans, micro mini
• 29:16
  skirts and crop tops. As these fashion trends re enter
• 29:19
  the culture of zeitgeist, it was only a matter of time before the
• 29:23
  beauty standard of the early naughties would return.
• 29:26
  This return to Y2K skinny has coincided with the Ozempic drug
• 29:30
  rush, an insulin regulator for pre diabetic people whose
• 29:33
  primary side effect is fast and dramatic weight loss.
• 29:37
  Ozempic made waves on TikTok last year when the hashtag My
• 29:40
  Ozempic Journey blew up, and later again when Kim Kardashian
• 29:44
  dropped a significant amount of weight in a short period of time
• 29:47
  to fit into Marilyn Monroe's dress for the Met Gala.
• 29:50
  Many now call the drug Hollywood's worst kept secret
• 29:53
  because apparently everyone's in on it.
• 29:56
  Body shapes should never be treated as a trend, but with
• 29:59
  celebrities and influencers going to extreme lengths to fit
• 30:02
  into the illusion of thinness, it is unsurprising that there
• 30:05
  has been a noticeable rise in eating disorder content online.
• 30:08
  In this new era, TikTok seems to be stepping into the role that
• 30:11
  Tom once held. The platform's algorithm guides
• 30:14
  users through various niches and seemingly favors certain body
• 30:18
  types, making it easier than ever to encounter Pro and A
• 30:21
  content. While the format may have moved
• 30:24
  from static images to short form video, one unfortunate truth
• 30:28
  remains. This is just the latest chapter
• 30:31
  and an ongoing issue that neither platforms nor users have
• 30:35
  fully figured out how to navigate safely.
• 30:38
  A problem that continues to leave social media users, many
• 30:42
  of them teens and tweens, suffering in its wake.
• 30:46
  Infinite Scroll is a podcast produced and presented by me,
• 30:50
  Lauren Meisner for Centennial World.
• 30:53
  This episode was Co researched and written by Annabelle Ben
• 30:56
  David and Co researched and edited by Danny Fennick.
• 31:00
  Thank you so much for listening. I love you guys and I will talk
• 31:03
  to you next week. Bye.