BBC Homepage
  • Skip to content
  • Accessibility Help
  • Your account
  • Notifications
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • More menu
More menu
Search BBC
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
Close menu
BBC News
Menu
  • Home
  • InDepth
  • Israel-Gaza war
  • War in Ukraine
  • Climate
  • UK
  • World
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Culture
More
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Health
  • Family & Education
  • In Pictures
  • Newsbeat
  • BBC Verify
  • Disability
  • BBC Trending

Instagram tightens eating disorder filters after BBC investigation

  • Published
    12 December 2018
Share page
About sharing
Hand taking top view photo of marble countertop. Cooking pot with poached quinces, poached quince with cream, fresh quinces and a cup of coffee on the countertop.Image source, Getty Images
By BBC Trending
Going in-depth on social media

Instagram has placed more hashtags which could promote eating disorders on an "unsearchable" list after a BBC investigation found that users were finding ways around the platform's filters.

The photo-sharing network has also added health warnings to several alternative spellings or terms which reference eating disorders, some of which are popular hashtags on the platform.

Starting in 2012, the photo-sharing site started to make some terms unsearchable, to avoid users being able to navigate directly to often shocking images, and posts that promote the idea that eating disorders are a lifestyle choice rather than a mental illness.

If someone enters the unsearchable terms into the platform's search box, no results will come up.

Other hashtags, when searched, will active a pop-up asking the user if they need help, with options to "learn more", cancel the search, or view content anyway.

BBC Trending found that certain terms promoting bulimia were still searchable - and that the Instagram search bar was suggesting alternative spellings and phrasings for known terms which some see as glamorising or encouraging eating disorders

In one case, the search box offered 38 alternative spellings of a popular term.

line

More on this story

  • Do Instagram Hashtags Promote Eating Disorders? Trending on the BBC World Service

In response to our findings, Instagram made several alternative spellings unsearchable and added several others to the list of terms which trigger the health warning. Trending is not listing the specific hashtags on the list, but Instagram said it would continue to try to restrict content which appears to encourage eating disorders and self-harm.

"We do not tolerate content that encourages eating disorders and we use powerful tools and technologies - including in-app reporting and machine learning - to help identify and remove it," an Instagram spokesperson said in a statement.

"However, we recognize this is a complex issue and we want people struggling with their mental health to be able to access support on Instagram when and where they need it.

"We, therefore, go beyond simply removing content and hashtags and take a holistic approach by offering people looking at or posting certain content the option to access tips and support, talk to a friend, or reach out directly" to support groups, the statement said.

pictures of food in a dish, fork and knifeImage source, Getty Images

Bypassing filters

After Instagram and other social networks started to censor content that might encourage eating disorders, internet users attempted to navigate around the filters by deliberately misspelling commonly used eating disorder terms. The new hashtags could then be searched for on the platform.

While researching this story, we saw photos of skeletal bodies and posts that encourage extreme fasting.

Instagram, like most popular social networks, does not use moderators to proactively search for content that is against its rules. Instead it relies on other users to report violations.

line

You may also be interested in:

  • Can social networks help you lose weight?

  • I was addicted to celebrity diet tea

  • Follow BBC Trending on Facebook, external

line

'Emaciated bodies'

Rose-Anne had anorexia when she was 17. She saw photos on Instagram of people who have self-harmed and describes them as "distressing".

She says: "There's quite a lot of people who have self-harmed and full-length images of really emaciated bodies."

"It can be quite distressing to see those images, but it can also trigger the eating disorder."

Rose-Anne smiling in the countrysideImage source, Rose-Anne
Image caption,

Rose-Anne says she found content encouraging eating disorders online

Rose-Anne, who has now recovered from anorexia, also found that the platform recommended weight-loss hashtags in her news feed, despite the fact that she only followed eating disorder recovery accounts.

"I was getting suggested content that included weight loss tips... And that was without me searching it," she says.

Rose-Anne's experience demonstrates the difficulty that algorithms have in personalising the user experience and in detecting the difference between potentially positive and potentially harmful content.

Social networks can exacerbate eating disorders, but experts say they may also play a role in helping those suffering from mental illness. Positive communities have formed on Instagram and other platforms, and users sometimes post eating disorder related content as a public cry for help.

  • 'How Instagram became my support system'

Eating disorder charities are calling for social media networks to take more responsibility when it comes to policing content.

"The ideal situation is the content is not searchable and the content is removed but that if people are still searching for bad content, that health warning should come up every single time," says Tom Quinn of the eating disorder charity Beat.

Removing posts?

There's an argument that removing posts could drive discussion of eating disorders underground - where it's harder to moderate.

"It is unfortunate and it is true that there will be some people that if they can't find it on a readily accessible platform like Instagram will search for it in other ways," says Tom Quinn. "So while we recognize that some people will still find us content elsewhere that's no excuse for it still to be as readily accessible as it is currently."

Instagram rules prohibit content that "promotes or glorifies eating disorders" and the company says it will continue to develop its safety policies.

"Experts we work with tell us that communication is key in order to create awareness, and that coming together for support and facilitating recovery is important," a company spokesperson said.

If you need support with eating disorders, help and support is available: BBC Action Line.

Blog by Anisa Subedar, external

Reporting by Jo Whalley

Do you have a story for us? Email BBC Trending, external.

More from Trending: BBC exposes huge scale of online cheating ads

A photos of two YouTubers promoting essay writing service EduBirdieImage source, YouTube/Dan osi

YouTube has deleted thousands of videos promoting academic cheating in the last week after a BBC Trending investigation.READ NOW

You can follow BBC Trending on Twitter @BBCtrending, external, and find us on Facebook, external. All our stories are at bbc.com/trending.

Top stories

  • Israel to open Gaza humanitarian corridors as aid drops begin

    • Published
      3 hours ago
  • Gaza aid site offered a 'women only' day. It didn't stop the killing

    • Published
      5 hours ago
  • Security tightens as Donald Trump plays golf at Turnberry

    • Published
      5 hours ago

More to explore

  • Nervous about the Euro 2025 final? Here's your survival guide for the big match

    A young woman with shoulder length brown hair and a fringe bites her nails in Boxpark Croydon during the semi-final between England and Italy
  • Lucky shirts and match day rituals: England fans dream of Euros glory

    A woman wearing glasses is drawing a red and white England flag on her right cheek in face paint while looking at her reflection on her mobile phone.
  • How reality TV changed the way we think - for the better

    A treated image showing an old TV screen with a close up eye
  • Why we need to talk about periods, breasts and injuries in women's sport

    Chloe running towards the camera with her arms to her sides, wearing white shorts and white sports bra with her England shirt twirled up in her right hand, screaming with joy, blonde hair flying
  • Sleep, exercise, hydrate - do we really need to stick to recommended daily doses?

    A woman wearing black leggings and pink athletic shoes, standing on a set of black steps. One foot is placed on a higher step while the other remains on a lower one, suggesting an exercise or stretching.
  • ​​What is inside the GHF food aid box being distributed in Gaza?

    An image showing a young man carrying an box of aid with the GHF logo emblazoned on it. He is wearing a dark shirt with Nike Air written on it. Several other people are walking alongside him, and the image is imposed over the BBC Verify branding and colours.
  • School-leavers losing their lives for Russia in Putin's war with Ukraine

    Separate photos of two boys, one in a white judo outfit and the other a black tracksuit top
  • French pledge to recognise Palestine is a gamble - so will Starmer follow suit?

    Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron
  • How Epstein case is tearing apart Maga's online conspiracy wing

    Red hats with Donald Trump's Maga logo are handed out at an event
loading elsewhere stories

Most read

  1. 1

    Pubs and venues to be protected from noise complaints

  2. 2

    Security tightens as Donald Trump plays golf at Turnberry

  3. 3

    'My dad started spying on my mum' - the drugs causing sexual urges

  4. 4

    Bend It Like Beckham sequel in the works, director tells BBC

  5. 5

    Israel to open Gaza humanitarian corridors as aid drops begin

  6. 6

    Sleep, exercise, hydrate - do we really need to stick to recommended daily doses?

  7. 7

    Hundreds of protesters gather at asylum hotel

  8. 8

    Gaza aid site offered a 'women only' day. It didn't stop the killing

  9. 9

    Why I'm not paying into a pension

  10. 10

    Ozzy Osbourne: From Prince of Darkness to reality TV's favourite dad

BBC News Services

  • On your mobile
  • On smart speakers
  • Get news alerts
  • Contact BBC News

Best of the BBC

  • New drama from writer Jimmy McGovern

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Unforgivable
  • The Bafta award-winning comedy returns

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Such Brave Girls
  • An epic road trip across Vietnam

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Top Gear
  • Amol Rajan and Billy Bragg chat politics

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Radical with Amol Rajan
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • Terms of Use
  • About the BBC
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility Help
  • Parental Guidance
  • Contact the BBC
  • Make an editorial complaint
  • BBC emails for you

Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.