The Excerpt SPECIAL | SkinnyTok is now banned. Its dangerous influence persists.
Jul 16, 2025
Alyssa Goldberg, a wellness reporter from USA Today, dives into the troubling world of social media's influence on body image. She discusses the harmful rise of SkinnyTok, highlighting how trends pushed unrealistic weight loss goals and dangerous diet habits. Alyssa examines the cultural revival of extreme body ideals and the troubling impact on vulnerable teens. With TikTok banning the SkinnyTok hashtag, she emphasizes the urgent need for social media platforms to regulate harmful content and advocate for body positivity and recovery.
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Distinguishing Health from Disorder
- Wanting to look and feel healthy is normal and healthy.
- Disordered eating involves obsession and when it disrupts life, it becomes harmful.
Challenges of Regulating Harmful Content
- Social media platforms have responsibility but face challenges in policing harmful content.
- Users find ways around bans, keeping disordered eating content alive.
Youth Targeted by Diet Culture
- Teens and young adults are the primary audience for unsafe diet culture content on TikTok.
- This demographic receives the most viewership of such content according to studies.