Users can find a variety of content on TikTok, from makeup tips and fashion trends to nature hikes and cooking videos. Still, wellness remains one of the platform’s major draws.
But an Australian study is warning of the potential impact of such content on mental health, particularly with regard to body image and eating disorders.
This research coming out of Charles Sturt University and published in the journal Plos One reveals that TikTok use could promote body image dissatisfaction in young women and encourage eating disorders.
Researchers interviewed 273 women aged 18-28 about their use of the social media platform, measuring symptoms of eating disorders, body satisfaction, internalisation of societal beauty standards, and risk of orthorexia nervosa (an excessive preoccupation with eating healthy food).
Half of the participants watched seven to eight minutes of TikTok videos on eating disorders, including weight loss tips, recipes or sports training. The other half watched neutral content.
The researchers found that less than 10 minutes’ exposure to TikTok content, whether implicit or explicit about anorexia, is enough to have an immediate negative effect on body image and internalisation of beauty ideals.
The researchers note that even women exposed to neutral content reported a decrease in body satisfaction.
In response to these findings, the researchers are calling for stricter regulations on the platform, advocating for cultural and organisational change within TikTok to control and limit access to pro-anorexia content, as well as content that portrays disordered eating more subtly.
“There is a need for more stringent controls and regulations from TikTok in relation to pro-ana content, as well as more subtle forms of disordered eating- and body-related content,” the authors outlined.
The term “pro-ana” refers to content, usually online, that promotes the harmful behaviour and mindset that forms part of some eating disorders.
“Prohibiting or restricting access to pro-ana content on TikTok may reduce the development of disordered eating, and the longevity and severity of established eating disorder symptomatology among young women in the TikTok community,” they concluded.