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Analysis
Since I created a TikTok account in April 2020, I have been served weight loss content on my For You Page. And I’ve repeatedly told TikTok that I’m “not interested” in each weight loss video I’ve seen using the preferences menu on my For You Page. Despite this, I still get weight loss content on my for your page daily.
It turns out I’m not alone. A few other TikTokers have spoken up about this issue. Chloe Rask, a TikToker with over 15,000 followers, found her way to my For You Page last December when she posted a video asking what she needed to do to “get January-December weight loss transformations” off her For You Page? In the video’s caption, she wrote that weight loss content is triggering for her.
Rask got a flood of enthusiastic comments on her video. Some said they were “so over it,” and one commenter even said they were “going crazy” wondering if they had “been doing something that would make the FYP think [they] wanted this.”
Another TikToker, Hannah, posted her own video about being forced to see weight loss content on TikTok.
“Can someone explain to me why I am being inundated with weight loss and workout content that I never engage with? That I don’t like?” Hannah says in her video. “That is actively harmful for my mental health?”
Why it matters
Both Rask and Hannah’s comments get to the heart of why specifically unwanted weight loss content shown on our for your pages is particularly harmful: Seeing weight loss content can lead to disordered eating and/or (relapses of) eating disorders.
It’s well known that eating disorders can be the consequence of social media.
Anxieties about how you’re perceived via social media can lead to an increased focus on “body weight, body shape, calorie intake, and exercise,” according to a report on how social media impacts eating disorders by News Medical. Thus, videos about those exact four factors are extra activating for those who have a history of eating disorders, or are susceptible to one.
As for why TikTok continues to serve users content they’ve said they are “not interested” in, it seems that this phenomenon is (unfortunately) not limited to weight loss content.
Mashable’s Meera Navlakha says that the “not interested” issue seems to have to do with TikTok’s almighty and enigmatic algorithm, and that if you watch a video for a couple of seconds before pressing “not interested,” the app might take that hesitation as a cue that you’re interested in the content.
Frustrating as it is, TikTok has risen to power because of its ability to follow what you do (hesitate while hate-watching videos you dislike) rather than what you say (pushing the “not interested” button). But no matter what, if weight loss content is activating for you, I’m sending you strength to just keep scrolling past those types of videos and not letting them ruin your day.