Experts push for social media changes to reduce body image harm for teens

Social media giants may soon be fined for failing to promptly remove eating disorder content, while beauty filters will also be banned for underage users in a proposed crackdown.

Beauty filters would be blocked for users aged under 18 and tech giants would be fined for failing to promptly remove toxic eating disorder content and advertising under a proposed crackdown to better protect kids and teens.

An expert roundtable, spearheaded by Teal MP Zoe Daniel and the Butterfly Foundation, will on Tuesday call on the federal government to enact 21 urgent recommendations to reduce harm for vulnerable Australians struggling with their body image.

The group is pushing for a raft of practical changes and the strengthening of online safety laws that would allow users to report pro-eating disorder posts to the eSafety Commissioner.

These include enabling users, who would be subject to accurate age verification, to reset their algorithms and opt out of content.

Social media companies would also be required to lift the veil of secrecy on their algorithms, conduct risk assessments and permit audits by independent bodies, and present diverse physical appearances.

Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel has been pushing for greater protections for people with eating disorders. Picture: NCA NewsWire

“It’s time for the government to take action and start prioritising the mental health of young people in Australia by reforming policies and working closely with social media platforms and independent third parties,” Butterfly Foundation chief executive Dr Jim Hungerford said.

“We’ve reached a critical juncture with this issue and have done everything we can within our communities, but we need further support.”

Dr Hungerford said eating disorders in Australians aged 10-19 had soared 86 per cent since 2012, which coincided with a 275 per cent surge in inquiries to Butterfly over the same period.

He said social media had played a role in those figures growing, with research stating that image-based social media could particularly increase body dissatisfaction in young people.

An overarching duty of care to protect the health and wellbeing of young people using social media platforms has also been proposed, along with body image education programs and resources, training for teachers and government funding for targeted research.

Varsha Yajman has lived experience with an eating disorder. Picture: Supplied

Goldstein MP Zoe Daniel – who convened the first meeting of eating disorder experts, people with lived experience and representatives from Meta in September last year – said a lot of the recommendations could be quickly implemented, while big structural changes that shift the accountability from the user to the platform were made.

“Every day that we wait to action, really, what we already know … is a day that puts a child at risk,” Ms Daniel said.

“The working group has done the government’s work for it.

“The government should accept that in good faith, and then look at which levers it can pull to make a difference now.”

Youth mental health advocate, Varsha Yajman, chaired the lived experience working group and said the recommendations were evidence-based and achievable.

“It’s not just this idealised outcome that we want,” Ms Yajman said.

“I’m really hoping that we have things like media literacy and a focus on how we can change the algorithm.

“Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, and we still don’t have enough awareness about it.”

BUTTERFLY FOUNDATION: 1800 334 673

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Originally published as Experts push for social media changes to reduce body image harm for teens