When the algorithm strikes against you: an analysis of the impact of diet culture content on TikTok on the development of eating disorders and body dissatisfaction among female undergraduates

Abstract

TikTok is a very popular platform among young adults, where content related to food, exercise and body in the context of diet culture is very common and has a large following. Many users create such videos, posting unverified, potentially harmful information. However, the effects they may have on users' relationships with their bodies are not well comprehended. The objective of this study was firstly to understand how diet culture beliefs are represented on food, weight and body-related TikTok; and then explore if those TikToks affect body image, comparison and fat phobia in female university students. 200 TikTok videos from 4 popular nutrition, food, and weight-related hashtags were analysed and coded following specific research questions to develop common themes. A 3 step experimental research study with a sample of (n=61) female undergraduates was also conducted to examine the relationship between the analysed TikTok and body image dissatisfaction and fat phobia. Three scales were chosen to retrieve the data: SATAQ-3 (Thompson et al., 2004), BIDQ (Cash et al., 2004) and Fat Phobia scale (Bacon et al., 2001). Key themes included glorification of weight loss and the positioning of food as a means to achieve health and thinness, not pleasure; and exercise as a tool to shape the body. Exposure to toxic diet-culture and weight normative content increases comparison and internalisation of pressures related to body image, which in turn worsen perceptions of one’s self and increase insecurities both in number and intensity, and may contribute to disordered eating attitudes.