So, you're scrolling TikTok, probably looking for some dance videos or funny skits, and bam—you land on a video of someone showing off a super-tiny waist or sharing a ‘weight loss tip' that's basically starvation. That's SkinnyTok, a trend that blew up in early 2025 with over 500,000 videos. It's all about glorifying being super thin, but it's dressed up as ‘health inspo.' Think ‘What I Eat in a Day' videos with barely any food or weird advice like ‘chew gum to ignore hunger.' It's got a lot of people worried, especially since it's messing with young users' heads.
By spring 2025, SkinnyTok wasn't just a hashtag—it was a straight-up controversy. People started calling it out for promoting eating disorders, and it got so bad that regulators in Europe, especially France, stepped in. France's Digital Minister, Clara Chappaz, was like, ‘This is not okay,' and the European Commission started digging into TikTok's algorithm for pushing this stuff to kids. Real stories, like Eve Jones, a 23-year-old who quit TikTok to protect her recovery from anorexia, hit hard. By June 3, 2025, TikTok had enough and banned #SkinnyTok worldwide.
When TikTok banned #SkinnyTok, it felt like a win. Now, if you search the hashtag, you get a message like ‘You're more than your weight' and links to helplines. Cool, right? But hold up—lots of people say it's just a Band-Aid. Users started using sneaky hashtags like #Thinspo or #Bonezpo to keep posting the same stuff. Experts, like media prof Brooke Erin Duffy, say TikTok's algorithm is still the problem—it loves pushing whatever keeps you glued to the app, even if it's harmful. And let's be real, TikTok's been sloppy about this kind of thing before, just like Tumblr or X.
SkinnyTok's not just a TikTok mess—it's part of a whole cultural vibe. Thinness is making a comeback, with stuff like Ozempic going wild and fashion circling back to that 2000s ‘heroin chic' look. Experts like Martha Laham say we've been here before—think 1920s diet fads or Kate Moss's ‘nothing tastes as good as skinny feels' era. But now, social media turns it into a 24/7 competition. Some X users even say TikTok's ban is hypocritical, ignoring other harmful trends like binge-eating videos under #BodyPositivity. It's a lot.
The #SkinnyTok ban is a start, but it's not the end. France is pushing hard for rules like banning social media for kids under 15, and other countries might follow. On the flip side, creators like Phaith Montoya are fighting back with body-positive videos, though they're swimming against the algorithm's tide. If you're on TikTok, you can hit ‘Not Interested' on sketchy videos to clean up your feed. And if SkinnyTok's hitting you hard, check out free resources from the National Alliance for Eating Disorders. Long-term, though? We need platforms to fix their algorithms and for all of us to rethink how we talk about bodies.