Instagram and eating disorders: study reveals impacts

A new internal study by Meta found that Instagram distributes more content linked to eating disorders to teenagers who already feel bad about their own bodies, especially girls.

According to the document, for 223 young people who normally felt bad about their bodies after viewing Instagram, content of this type corresponded to around one in every ten posts (10.5%) in their feeds. Among other young people, the rate was just 3.3%.

Aimed at better understanding young people’s experiences on Instagram and Facebook, the report consolidates the results of a qualitative analysis of content samples and Youth Social Emotional Trends (MYST), a long-term study that followed the lives of 1,149 American teenagers and their parents for one school year (2023-2024), crossing posts with behavioral experiences.

The document was revealed by Reuters this Monday (20), obtained by the news agency from an unidentified source. Meta did not question the veracity of the data.

More harmful content on Instagram from vulnerable young people

For the analysis, researchers collected samples of content shown to the public for three months, in order to evaluate the display of “content parallel to eating disorders”.

The classification includes posts with sexualized bodies (focusing on pectorals, buttocks and thighs) or those linked to diet, weight loss and health.

Young people who report high rates of body dissatisfaction linked to Instagram content may have seen almost three times more content focused on body and eating disorders compared to other young people, the document states.

The survey also points out that the female audience is mainly affected by the distribution of this type of content.

About three-quarters (74%) of participants who reported frequent body dissatisfaction after browsing Instagram were girls. In groups with little or no body dissatisfaction, the rate was 50%.

The researchers also found that the impacts occur in early adolescence — with 54% of those who reported high body dissatisfaction being young people between 13 and 15 years of age.

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Young people receive more sensitive content

Some of the content displayed on Instagram was so explicit that the internal study recommended that Meta include a “sensitive content” classification for some of the posts, without taking into account whether or not the audience has eating disorders.

In some cases, the publications contained images of very thin women, followed by slit necks and a drawing of a crying figure, accompanied by phrases such as “how could I compare” and “make this stop”.

According to internal research, the same group with high body dissatisfaction saw 27% more posts in other problematic categories, such as “mature topics”, “risky behavior”, “cruelty” and “suffering”.

In contrast, those who had little or no body dissatisfaction saw only 13.6%.

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Contents are not prohibited by the terms of use

Despite the content of some of this content, it does not violate Instagram’s terms of use and will remain on the platform.

However, some of them are now restricted by new safety guidelines for teenagers, as a Meta spokesperson told The New York Post:

“Insights from research, plus consultations with experts, help us create the meaningful changes we’ve made to our platforms for parents and kids.”

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Connection between fitness content and disorders

The internal study is one of the most recent to point out a connection between fitness, fashion or beauty content found on Instagram and negative impacts on young people with eating disorders.

The first major revelation about the problem was made in 2021, when the Wall Street Journal published internal research obtained by a former Instagram manager finding the negative impacts.

However, the researchers of the current survey themselves state that “it is not possible to establish a direct causal relationship with these results.”

This is because the study does not exclude the possibility that young people in the most dissatisfied group may seek out inappropriate content on their own.

Even so, young people, parents, pediatricians, experts and even Meta advisors have already advised the platform to limit how much fitness and beauty content should be shown to young people, according to the document.

Also read | Facebook knows Instagram is toxic for girls, internal documents show

What the Meta says

Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Meta, told Reuters that the research in question is proof that the company is dedicated to improving its products and making them “safer for young people.”

Last week, big tech announced that it would align content display algorithms with the same indicative ratings for PG-13 films, for up to 13 years of age.

For some countries, this may not be enough.

The Australian government announced a 14 million Australian dollar advertising campaign to promote a new law, effective in December, that prohibits children and adolescents from accessing social networks.

Denmark is studying a similar measure, setting the minimum age for access to 15 years old.

The document obtained by Reuters can be seen in full here.

Also read | Denmark wants to ban networks for children under 15: ‘stealing children’s childhood’, says prime minister