Instagram has resolved an issue with the site’s algorithm that suggested diet-related content to people with eating disorders after users shared that they were being triggered by the content, but the problem has had a lasting impact on people.
A new search feature on the site meant that users were suggested topics to search for and shown posts that were designed to reflect the accounts and content they generally interact with.
However, people who engaged with eating disorder recovery posts and accounts were being recommended advertisements for appetite suppressants and apps that gave tips on intermittent fasting, posts promoting restrictive diets and other potentially harmful content to people who suffer from an eating disorder.
This has had a damaging effect on its users with some claiming they have decided to stay off the app altogether to avoid seeing anything on their timeline or suggestions in their search bar that might provoke negative thoughts.
Eating disorder campaigner, Zoe Burnett, 25, had atypical anorexia for 15 years and is still recovering.
She was recommended triggering content despite her efforts to ensure these types of posts would not appear on her feed.
Sharing about how Instagram’s algorithm issue affected her, she said: “When I see these kinds of posts I block and report, so I thought why am I still getting targeted by the diet industry?
“Having these adverts and suggestions telling me that I should be taking these products to change who I am and change my body, it’s really hard tackling those really negative body image thoughts when you’ve got this other stuff backing it up almost.
“Trying to recover in a world that is constantly trying to tell me that my body is wrong is exhausting and seeing all these adverts and products just reinforces the belief that I’m wrong and my body is wrong.”
With 1.25 million people in the UK having an eating disorder and 32.4% of the UK’s population owning an Instagram account, campaigners have said a site with as big of a platform as Instagram cannot let this happen.
Hope Virgo is an eating disorder campaigner and she said even when she searched for the hashtags ‘eating disorder’ and ‘eating disorder recovery’ she was flooded with diet ads.
She said: “I know that on my page even though I am very pro-recovery from an eating disorder, I am inundated with diet messaging whether its weight loss pills or whether it’s just people their sharing do’s and don’ts of what they eat or the number of calories they have.
“I know that quite often the way that the algorithms work on social media is they think that because you’re looking at eating disorders, then you want to be looking at diet stuff as well which creates this negative space.”
Hope said Instagram needs to be doing more to monitor what happens on the app to ensure this does not happen again.
She said: “They need to be aware of the damage they’re doing.
“While quite often social media companies claim to monitor this sort of stuff, if they don’t have a real understanding about what’s triggering and what isn’t triggering, they’re not going to know the kind of stuff to be looking for.
“Instagram needs to be held to account for what they’re doing and the impact that they’re having on young people and adults and their relationship with their bodies.”
The discovery page where users are able to see vast amounts of content that Instagram has tailored to previous engagements on the site was also a cause for concern for people with eating disorders.
Hannah Hickinbotham, 24, who is recovering from anorexia, has a podcast called ‘Full of Beans’ that discusses the issues around eating disorders.
She said because of the topics she talks about in her show and subsequently shares on her account, her discovery page is full of triggering diet-related content.
Hannah shared: “I don’t click on the discovery page on Instagram.
“All that comes up on there is what I eat in a day and transformation pictures of going from a larger body to a smaller body.”
“All of those things are unbelievably triggering even for me in a recovered position, I still can’t see that because it just starts that comparison.”
Although Instagram claims to have resolved the issue that impacted the algorithm, this was only one part of the criticisms people with eating disorders shared.
Erin Wright, 18, suffers from anorexia and she said the social media company needs to put more restrictions in place on posts promoting weight loss products.
Instagram’s currently policy states that no one under the age of 18 should be recommended weight loss products but Erin thinks this needs to be extended to all of its users regardless of age.
She said: “Eating disorders often form when you’re young and it’s good to catch them early when you’re a teenager because there’s a higher chance of recovery but that doesn’t mean that they don’t exist in people who aren’t teenagers.”
“I know loads of adults who have eating disorders, people develop them when they’re adults.
“It’s good that they’ve banned it for under 18s but they’re neglecting the needs of people over 18 because there’s so many adults with eating disorders and the mortality rate is higher in adults for anorexia.”
Erin developed anorexia when she started to have negative thoughts in relation to her body image and her mother, Tay Warren, 49, said dieting played a significant part in this.
Tay said: “With social media there’s the danger that when people do search for some diet-related things, they also can find even more dangerous content like pro anorexia content.
“Lots of these things are way more accessible than we think they are and the start of that kind of thing very often for young people is a diet and in our experience that’s how it started.”
She shared that she is worried that her daughter is accessing information on restrictive diets and seeing promotions for weight loss products on social media which she does not know about and is unable to monitor.
Tay said: “I can’t know what she’s seeing.
“If she sees things and I’m lucky enough that she raises them with me and we talk about them then that’s brilliant but for every time that happens, there’s probably loads of times that she sees stuff and doesn’t say anything about it.”
Tay often takes detours if she’s driving with Erin and sees a weight loss advert on a bus.
Her family also rarely watches television live so they have the opportunity to fast-forward through adverts however she feels helpless when it comes to Instagram.
She said: “I’m not there to spot it and head it off or fast-forward through it so if she’s on her own doing things on her phone or her laptop or her iPad I don’t know what’s being suggested to her so it’s really really scary.
“Dieting is seen to be a good thing and to be expected and so when those things are advertised it can draw people into something they don’t realise could be dangerous.”
“As part of the government’s obesity campaign, they want to focus on banning adverts for high sugar content food whereas I think they should be banning adverts for diet products.”
Calls for the government to bring in legislation for social media companies like Instagram have been echoed in the medical field.
GP Dr Natasha Larmie said the approach the government took to restrictions on the advertisement of tobacco should be applied to weight loss content and promotions of dieting products on social media.
A ban on television advertising of tobacco, and the introduction of the Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Act 2002 banning the promotion of cigarettes in magazines and the press, along with legislation requiring shops and supermarkets to put tobacco products behind a screen, led to decreased smoking rates.
This is the same principle Dr Larmie wants the government to adopt again with Instagram.
She said: “It’s about less and less exposure to people.
Dr Larmie claims that promoting weight loss on social media can be dangerous and is a potential gateway to disordered eating, poor mental health and sometimes overeating.
She added: “The evidence is there that shows us can harm people so why are we allowing people to advertise it?
“We’re not saying ban health promotion, we’re saying ban talk of weight loss so I would love to see it extended throughout.
“Instagram can’t police who is under 18 and who is over 18.
“It doesn’t work that way so if you’re going to do it then do it properly, don’t half do it.”
A spokesperson for Instagram said: “We recently rolled out a new search functionality on Instagram beyond hashtags and usernames, to help you more easily discover and explore content you’re most interested in.
“As part of this new feature, when you tap on the search bar, we’ll suggest topics you may want to search for.
“Those suggestions, as well as the search results themselves, are limited to general interests, and weight loss should not have been one of them.
“We’ve taken steps to prevent weight loss terms from appearing here.”
You can find resources for help with eating disorders here https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/types-of-mental-health-problems/eating-problems/useful-contacts/
Molly Goodwin - Journalism 