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Bathurst, Australia – Exposure to some videos on Tiktok could put women a higher risk of developing health Problems such as eating disorders, a new study has suggested.
The “pro -anorexia” content on TikTok leads to some users being more likely to develop eating disorders, a new study has found. © Imago / Cfoto
Researchers from Charles Sturt University in Australia warned that there must be “effective controls” in place on the platform to stop what they describe as “pro -anxi” content circulating.
For the study, approximately 273 female Tiktok users were given 18 to 28 surveys who measured undisturbed eating behavior, such as binge-eating and self-induced vomiting, as well as body satisfaction and internalization of social care standards.
The majority were from Australia, with 71% who reported that they spent up to two hours a day at TikTok.
Of the group, 126 TikTok videos were shown about disturbed eating, such as young women who limit food intake and share tips on weight loss, as well as videos of narrow women showing waists and content about exercising and juice cleaning.
The rest of the group was shown videos about nature, cooking, comedy and animals.
After seeing seven to eight minutes of Tiktoks, the two groups were invited to fill in the studies on body image and beauty standards again.
The study, published in the magazine Plos oneFound that pro-anorexia content “significantly reduced” the first group’s body image satisfaction and increased their internalization of appearance ideal.
TikTok must implement “stricter controls and regulations”, according to the research writers. © Reutants
Researchers said: “Our results indicate that female identifying TikTok users may experience psychological harm even when explicit content pro-anxi is not sought and even when their ticto-use is limited in nature.”
The team also demanded stricter controls of the content of eating disruptions published on the platform.
They added: “The results of this study indicate that cultural and organizational change is needed.”
“There is a need for stricter controls and regulations from TikTok in relation to pro-anorexia content as well as more subtle forms of undisturbed eating and body-related content.”
Prohibiting or limiting these videos can reduce the risk of eating orders develop among users, the study indicates.
“There are current measures to remove dangerous content, including blockage searches such as ‘#anorexia’, but there are different ways that users bypass these checks and further regulation is required,” said researchers.
TikTok said its guidelines for society do not allow “show or promote disturbed eating and dangerous weight loss behaviors” or “facilitate trade or marketing of weight loss or muscle enhancement products.”
