What is this new trend promoting extreme thinness on Tiktok? – release

The trend already swarmed in the 2000s and early 2010s. On social networks, whether Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest or Instagram, under the name of Pro-Ana movementfor pro-anorexia. In playgrounds, with the apology of Thigh gapthis gap between the thighs that it was necessary to have so as not to be judged big. Today, the promotion of extreme thinness resurfaces, this time on Tiktok, with the #skinnytok, of the English word skinny (skinny) and the suffix referring to the Chinese platform. To the point of alerting the French authorities, who seized, this Friday, April 18, the Audiovisual and Digital Communication Communication Authority (Arcom) and the European Commission. Release Return to this cult of dangerous slimming for young adolescent girls.

The video being the intrinsic concept of the Chinese application, the trend is characterized by montages of young women and young girls highlighting their thinness accompanied by music-unlike Tumblr for example, where most pro-Anorexia posts were photos, blog notes or GIFs. These videos contain advice for losing weight. They encourage for example to practice a specific fast: no breakfast or lunch before 4 p.m., and a meal only in the evening. And if hunger is watching, the solution is simple, just drink water.

Here, no call for self -acceptance. Under cover of motivation, posted messages are guilty, not to say Grossophobes. Florilège: « Do you want to take a snack? » Or becoming one? « , » Are you not ugly, are you just fat « , » If your gargoyle stomach, it’s you who applaud you « , » Do you still want to hide at the beach? « , » Stop rewarding yourself with food, you are not a dog. « 

So many provocative advice that can push to adopt eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia, etc.), which worries health professionals. Questioned by the pointMichael Stora, psychoanalyst and founder of the Digital World Observatory in Human Sciences, evokes a « Health disaster ». Especially since the phenomenon « Touches a young, adolescent population, and that adolescence is precisely the moment of life when self -image is fragile, even faulty ».

In reality, not much. In the absence of censorship, Tiktok has set up a prevention message, only displayed in the form of a headband above publications. The latter can lead users to a page of resources related to power disorders – provided you click on it. The algorithm of the Chinese social network is such that for a video of this viewed type, the wire is quickly filled with the same type of content, submerging the Internet user.

On Instagram, property of the Meta groupthe search for the keyword « skinny » returns directly to a help page, which can be easily bypassed, to access publications. Measures without coercion, so that these contents remain widely accessible to the youngest.

Worried about the ideas that we slip into the heads of young Internet users, the French minister in charge of digital, Clara Chappazannounced Friday, April 18, having seized the Arch and the European Commission. “Skinnytok, a trend that promotes extreme thinness on networks. Inadmissible. I seized the Arch and the European Commission ”, wrote the Minister In a message posted on LinkedIn. « I make the protection of minors online one of the priorities of my action », she added in a video posted on the same social network, ensuring that it does not « Let



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