Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria 3004, Australia.
Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TU, UK.
Body Image. 2022 Jun;41:267-271. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2022.03.004. Epub 2022 Mar 23.
Social media is a highly popular and interactive environment which has many benefits, but research has shown that its use is also associated with body image concerns. Leaked internal survey findings in September 2021 from Instagram provide some support for negative impacts on body image of teenage girls especially. In this short communication, we discuss the complexities of moderating social media platforms which aim to protect users from potentially harmful body image focused content. Several strategies have been employed and we specifically examine the moderation of pro-eating disorder hashtags (e.g., #thinspiration) and hiding of "Like" counts on Instagram in particular. We find that both are quick technical "fixes" that do not effectively address these long-standing and complex issues on social media. We provide suggestions for novel avenues of research, including that body image researchers are excellently positioned to propose specific suggestions for content moderation strategies that may actually be effective. Social media companies know that they have a major problem on their hands, as the leaked findings demonstrate, and so they may be more receptive than they have ever been to novel research findings from our community.
社交媒体是一个非常流行和互动的环境，有很多好处，但研究表明，它的使用也与身体形象问题有关。2021 年 9 月泄露的 Instagram 内部调查结果为青少年女孩的身体形象受到负面影响提供了一些支持。在这篇简短的交流中，我们讨论了管理旨在保护用户免受潜在有害身体形象内容的社交媒体平台的复杂性。已经采用了几种策略，我们特别研究了对赞成饮食失调的标签（例如#thinspiration）的审核和在 Instagram 上隐藏“赞”的计数。我们发现，这两种都是快速的技术“修复”，无法有效地解决社交媒体上长期存在的复杂问题。我们为新的研究途径提供了建议，包括身体形象研究人员非常有能力提出可能真正有效的内容审核策略的具体建议。社交媒体公司知道他们面临着一个重大问题，正如泄露的调查结果所表明的那样，因此他们可能比以往任何时候都更愿意接受我们社区的新研究结果。
