Social media app TikTok could encourage unhealthy relationships with food and trigger people who have suffered eating disorders, campaigners have said.
The video app is one of the most popular in the world, with more than 800m users – 41% of those users between the age of 16 and 24.
But there are fears some of the content glamorises eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.
TikTok said the safety and wellbeing of users was its top priority.
It said it encouraged people to report any inappropriate content with anything seeking to glorify or promote eating disorders violating its guidelines.
But eating disorder charity Beat said that, while it supports the action TikTok has taken to reduce the spread of such content, there are still some harmful videos on the app.
“We’d advocate for real people to actually search the platform and to highlight and take down the harmful content,” Tom Quinn, director of external affairs, said.
Although TikTok says it uses a combination of techniques to remove content, campaigners say the app is slow in dealing with it.
Because it allows anyone to create and publish content, people can promote whatever dietary or weight-loss advice they like.
And the way the algorithm of the app works means people do not have to actively search for that content – it can appear as suggested content for that user.
This means if someone curiously watches a “pro-ana” video, they are then supplied with more weight- loss tips and “thinspo” (content to inspire a person to lose weight).