‘Skinnytok’ ban too late, says woman who deleted app for health

A woman who fought with Anorexia said she had to eliminate Tiktok to protect her health after “Skinnytok” flooded her “harmful weight loss.”

If you have not heard of it, “Skinnytok” is a controversial side of social networks where people promote weight loss advice focused on restrictive food with the aim of being “skinny.”

Tiktoktty blocked the search for the term, but Eve Jones, 23, of Cardiff, said that, despite being a step in the right direction, “scratches the surface” in a bigger problem, that people can find a path.

Tiktok said he continued restricting the videos and blocked the search, since he linked to the unhealthy weight loss content.

Despite the ban, many “skinnytok” promotion videos that do not use hashtag are still avializable in the application.

Like some who have been entering and leaving the hospital since the age of 13, Eve said the search ban was “too late” since the message was already out there.

Eve has retired from the platform, since she said that users promoted “harmful and messy” food and was worried about the impact it had on younger people.

“It is almost a compulsion to see it. There is a part of the eating disorders that you try to access this,” Eve said.

“Once you interact with a publication like that, your feed floods so fast.”

The accents and numbers of the letters can also be used to disguise the harmful hashtags, Eve said, so the content was still “very easy” to access.

“I am lucky to be in a position in which I have received my treatment and I know how to avoid my triggers, but people on the other side of this won that.”

The trend has seen a resurgence of diet culture compared to that of the 2000s, with the Kate Moss supermodel “Nothes know as well as Skinny feels” often cited as a source of inspiration.

Other controversial quotes include: “You are not a dog, you don’t deserve a gift.”

Eve said she blocked certain words of her food on social networks, including Tiktok and X, but the videos still appeared.

Many users insist that people should avoid consuming the content if it is harmful, said Eve, or leaving social networks, but she argues that it was not so simple.

“Anyone who is actively looking for ‘Skinnytok’ will not recognize what he is doing is not healthy, or they will not seek help about it,” he said.

The thin word has become an online fashion word, EVE said, with many extreme weight losses under the appearance of having “healthy” self -control and willpower.

“There is a lot of denial in having an eating disorder,” Eve said, adding that people did not know that the content was harmful.

His spiral anorexia of cleaning that he thought was healthy.

“The videos are encouraging people to take habits that I spent the last seven years trying to overcome,” he added.

“I don’t know if I have a friend who has fought with his food at some point, even if it is not a diagnosed eating disorder, he is affecting many girls on social networks.

“Personally, I don’t think anyone needs to know what someone eats in one day, it is something comparative.”

The beneficial eating disorder organization beat people surveyed with eating disorders in 2022 about their online experiences and 91% of respondents said they had found harmful content, which could feed the thoughts and behaviors of eating disorder.

In 2024, the popular user of Tiktok Liv Schmidt was expelled from the platform on the controversial weight loss publications, and many spectators reported their account about the “trigger” language.

Known for the suggestions of “What as in one day” and suggestions “Skinny girl essential”, Mrs. Schmidt was battery or “bait of anger” to increase its profile views.

Tilly Short, 21, from the University of Cardiff, Champions Body Positivity, but said it was worrying since many teenagers trusted social networks to obtain information.

Tilly said there is a constant pressure, and despite trying to adjust the way he interacts with the content so that he does not appear in his feed, he said it was “almost impossible” to avoid it.

“You must take everything you see on social networks with a pinch of salt. Many content creators are not qualified, they are not health professionals.”

The research of the University of London discovered that people aged 10 to 24 who used social networking sites ran the risk of developing images, eating disorders and poor mental health.

Alexandra Dane, principal researcher, said that social networks platforms allowed young people to constantly compare their appearance with others, which can “encourage young people to see themselves as objects that should be judged in their appearance.”

Mrs. Dane described it as a global public health problem “and requested more recognition, financing and research to guarantee the education and early identification of people at risk.

Tom Quinn, a spokesman for the beneficial eating disorder organization, welcomed the prohibition or “skinnytok”, but said that Tiktok and other social media platforms “must now take measures to ensure that their platforms are free of all harmful content.”

Quinn said that people would find solutions to the content blocks and that there will still be Damag content that is not under the hashtag.

“While social networks will never be the unique and direct cause of an eating disorder, we know that things can worsen for those who are already at risk,” he said.

“It is important to note that people who create this type of content can be bad, so it is not maliciously intended.”

Tiktok said the platform offered a series of welfare resources, as well as “strict rules against body shame and dangerous weight loss behaviors.”

He added: “The platform regularly reviews its security measures to address evolution risks.

“We continually restrict videos of adolescents and provide health experts and information in the search for Tiktok.”

If you or someone who knows the bone affected by any of the topics raised in this article, help and support are available in BBC action line