New research that harms Instagram. While the social network recently launched two features to better protect teens from sensitive content, an internal study seen by Reuters shows it still has room for improvement.
According to this document, young people who were unhappy with their bodies watched content related to eating disorders more frequently than those who did not feel bad about themselves.
Sensitive and provocative content.
In detail, Instagram’s parent company, Meta, surveyed 1,149 teenagers during the 2023-2024 school year. The objective of this study was to determine if and how often they felt bad about themselves after using the social network. They then manually tested the content they saw on the platform for three months.
The researchers found that for the 223 participants who experienced that feeling after using Instagram, eating disorder-related content accounted for 10.5% of what they saw there, compared to just 3.3% for others.
They were also exposed to more provocative content, classified as “adult themes”, “risky behavior” or “suffering” by Meta. Among these problematic posts, Instagram showed them images of thin women in lingerie and bikinis, videos of fights and a drawing of a crying figure accompanied by phrases like “Let all this stop.” They also saw a close-up of a woman’s lacerated neck.
In total, these images and videos represented 27% of what they had seen, compared to only 13.6% of those who said they did not feel bad about themselves.
Potentially harmful content for young people
While some of this content is not banned on Instagram, parents, teens, and experts have told Meta that they consider it potentially harmful to young users. In particular, they urged the platform to limit the dissemination of publications related to eating disorders and body image among young people, considering that they could amplify or exacerbate the feeling of body inadequacy.
Please note that this content violates the rules of the social network. “We do not allow the promotion or advocacy of self-harm, including eating disorders. However, we do allow content that references self-harm and eating disorders to raise awareness about where to go for help,” Instagram says in its community guidelines.
There is no cause and effect relationship, according to researchers
The study further revealed that Meta tools designed to detect violations of Instagram rules failed to detect 98.5% of “sensitive” content, considered inappropriate for young people. A result that “does not necessarily surprise” the researchers, since the company had just started working on the design of an algorithm capable of detecting the potentially dangerous publications they were examining.
The study’s authors also believe their findings do not prove that Instagram degrades teens’ body image. “It is impossible to establish a causal link between these results,” they stressed, adding that it is possible that minors who feel bad about themselves were actively searching for these types of images and videos.
Meta, for its part, believes that this study demonstrates its commitment to understanding and improving its products, particularly to offer safer experiences to young people. However, this comes as Instagram seeks to reassure parents, but also authorities, after revelations in 2021 that its parent company knew it was harming the mental health of teenagers.
Source: BFM TV
