A study by the Digital Anti-Hate Center (CCDH) revealed that the Chinese social network TikTok promotes psychologically dangerous content. dangerously restrictive diets, content that promotes self-harm, and content that idealizes suicide to users who prefer such materials.
The problem is that this is getting more dangerous because these contents are also recommended for users under 18 years old.
Analysis performed by the campaign group, United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, therefore, accounts were created as if they were under the minimum age of 13 to access the service.
Users separated as standard accounts and others rated as vulnerable iSome of them even have the term “loseweight” (Spanish for low weight) in their names. and they would stop at videos about body image, eating disorders or mental health to capture the effectiveness of TikTok’s algorithm, sometimes even giving a few “Likes” 30 minutes after accounts were created.
According to the group, most of the mental health videos that appear on their standard accounts are through the “For You” stream. they consist of users who share their concerns and insecurities.
The content that harms body image the most are diet drinks and tummy tuck ads.
Researchers found that videos about body image, mental health and eating disorders were shown to “vulnerable” accounts. three times more than regular accounts.
Source: Exame
