BREAKING: TikTok has announced changes to global ad policy today on something I& #39;ve been tracking for months - weight loss ads. Here& #39;s a https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🚨" title="Polizeiautos mit drehendem Licht" aria-label="Emoji: Polizeiautos mit drehendem Licht"> thread https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🚨" title="Polizeiautos mit drehendem Licht" aria-label="Emoji: Polizeiautos mit drehendem Licht"> on those changes plus the sort of content TikTok *was* putting out at the height of lockdown that I could see here in the UK.
broadly these are the changes - but why have they had to introduce them in the first place? let& #39;s wind back the clock...
TW as I& #39;ll start showing screenshots/vids now.

In May and June, I was constantly being advertised fasting apps or weight loss apps. I am not someone with a history of ED but was fed up of being advertised stuff like this.
This morning I went back to my Saved vids and found the ads I saved from the time still there. This has been seen 4.7m times.
This one is specifically targeted at lockdown weight
After collecting a few of these vids I said & #39;not interested& #39; on the ad, which is supposed to tell TikTok that I don& #39;t want to see content like this advertised to me anymore. Moments later, this is what I was advertised. Not a fasting app but still not what I wanted to see!
I made a TikTok sharing with my followers that I was being advertised these apps and whether other people elsewhere were getting them too. These are some of the responses I got - incl. from under 18s.
Last night, on my For You Page, I was shown the video of a young anorexic in a psych ward that& #39;s now had over 11m views. TikTok like all platforms has to balance body positivity and challenging weight stigma with stopping triggering/encouraging imitative behaviour.
TikTok is partnering with the National Eating Disorder Association and supporting Weight Stigma Awareness Week next week - hopefully this will lead to more sensitive and informative content as well as clearer moderation on the platform.
Oh and - the platform is inundated with diet culture content. It very much is welcome to lots of users on the platform diarising their daily calorie count. So their creator saying & #39;diet culture isn& #39;t welcome on TikTok, because diverse voices are& #39; today is a bit confusing
I am a firm believer in social media platforms being *ours* as we populate them with *our* content. If we aren& #39;t happy - speak out. If we are happy - rejoice. You all know how much I love content creation on TikTok and others. Let& #39;s all fight to make them happy, healthy spaces.
and p.s. if you& #39;re new to my content, hello, I report on religion and digital culture for the BBC, I have over 111K followers on TikTok and I& #39;m making a documentary about the app so follow along if you& #39;re into all that
You can follow @sophiasgaler.
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