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How Social Media Can 'Trigger' Eating Disorders in Young People
- French health experts report that social media platforms like TikTok increasingly trigger eating disorders among young people in 2025.
- This rise follows a doubling in global cases from 3.5% in 2000 to 7.8% in 2018, coinciding with social media's expansion, which normalizes disordered eating online.
- Experts highlight trends like #skinnytok that promote thinness, extreme dieting, and harmful behaviors such as laxative use and vomiting, increasing health risks including cardiac arrest.
- Carole Copti said social media creates a 'vicious cycle' where users gain followers by exposing anorexia, perpetuating illness despite professional efforts limited by misinformation and indoctrination.
- Medical experts caution that social media, especially platforms like TikTok, can contribute to the onset of eating disorders by promoting unhealthy ideals and misinformation, and recommend removing these apps until young people receive better education on the risks, as their presence hinders recovery.
94 Articles
94 Articles
Social media’s push for the perfect muscular body is fuelling a new form of disordered eating — and young men are most at risk
Young men are most likely to follow eating habits consistent with Mode. Elkhophoto/ ShutterstockFrom celebrities and influencers to everyday people, social media is full of content that showcases perfectly toned, muscular bodies – and how to achieve them. Having a muscular physique is no longer confined to elite athletes and body builders – it has become a widely popular aspiration. But alongside the rising popularity of this kind of content has…
How social media can ‘trigger’ eating disorders in young people
Social media can push vulnerable young people towards developing eating disorders by glorifying thinness and promoting fake, dangerous advice about diet and nutrition, experts warn.Young women and girls are much more likely to suffer from illnesses such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder, though rates among men have been increasing.Read the full story on...
A recent example is the trend #skinnytok, a hastag on TikTok full of dangerous and responsible advice, encouraging people to dramatically reduce food intake
'Social media can trigger eating disorders'
PARIS — Social media can push vulnerable young people towards developing eating disorders by glorifying thinness and promoting fake, dangerous advice about diet and nutrition, experts warn. Young women and girls are much more likely to suffer from illnesses such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder, though rates among men have been increasing. Research has shown the percentage of people worldwide who have had some kind of eating disord…
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