Banned TikTok influencer Liv Schmidt’s ‘harmful’ brag slammed

Polarising influencer Liv Schmidt is facing a new round of backlash after she was banned from TikTok over her “harmful” content.

Content creator Liv Schmidt is facing a new round of backlash – this time over a “harmful” money-saving hack that involves buying children’s clothing.

The polarising influencer was banned from TikTok in late September, where she’d amassed a following of more than 650,000, for her misguided – if not outright problematic – videos on how to stay thin.

In the months prior, experts and critics alike had increasingly warned that the 22-year-old’s videos crossed the line between nutritional advice and promoting disordered eating, potentially endangering young, impressionable viewers.

Following a profile of Ms Schmidt by The Wall Street Journal, in which she discussed her philosophies on dieting and described her predominantly female TikTok audience as “cultlike”, her account was removed from the platform for violating its Community Guidelines. The site’s guidelines specifically prohibit “promoting disordered eating and dangerous weight loss behaviours”.

Content creator Liv Schmidt is facing a new round of backlash – this time over a 'harmful' money-saving hack that involves buying children’s clothing. Picture: TikTok

Within days, Ms Schmidt was back on TikTok, albeit under a different username.

In one new video, the private family office co-ordinator revealed her “biggest money saving hack when shopping is (buying) children’s clothing”.

“Like designers have kids t shirts that are like $200 instead of $1000 like the adults – for a cute baby tee,” its caption reads.

The clip was swiftly panned on Reddit, with many criticising Ms Schmidt of perpetuating “pro-anorexia rage bait”.

“It’s an adult woman in her 20s congratulating herself on working to achieve a body the same size as a child on social media and profiting from encouraging women to do the same,” one wrote.

“I think as a majority of people can’t stand her because she spread misinformation multiple times … That is incredibly moronic,” another said.

“As a registered dietitian myself, I do find a lot of what she posts harmful for others.”

The 22-year-old was removed from the platform late last month for violating its Community Guidelines. Picture: Instagram

Another post on Ms Schmidt’s new account – the bio of which briefly stated “it’s not a sin to want to be thin” – reads: “This is very, very hard work because … I’m not genetically blessed … I’ll forever die on this hill that I’m promoting healthy (behaviour) and that it’s OK to want to look a certain aesthetic.”

Ms Schmidt has also taken to misspelling words like “skinny”, which some creators employ as a tactic to bypass TikTok’s capacity to flag harmful content.

In her interview with The Wall Street Journal, Ms Schmidt denied ever having struggled with an eating disorder, but said that she understands what it’s like to feel uncomfortable in your own body, having dealt with generalised anxiety disorder since primary school.

She also stated that she “didn’t see anything wrong” with her output on TikTok, and was “confused and upset” when her account was taken down.

“For me and my personal aesthetic, I like to be skinny and there’s nothing wrong with that. Weight is a touchy topic, but that’s what’s the viewers want,” Ms Schmidt said.

“A lot of people want to know what people eat. I’m honest about how it is hard work.”

Ms Schmidt said she was ‘confused and upset’ over being banned from the platform. Picture: Instagram

‘For me and my personal aesthetic, I like to be skinny and there’s nothing wrong with that.’ Picture: Instagram

A survey earlier this year by Australian eating disorder support and treatment service, the Butterfly Foundation, found that almost half of 12 to 18 year olds feel dissatisfied with their body because of social media. Dozens of studies in recent years have also found a disturbing association between Instagram and TikTok use and body dissatisfaction and eating disorders.

One such study, published in 2022, looked at how much weight loss content appeared in TikTok searches under searches like #whatIeatinaday, #mealprep, #bodypositivity and other, more weight-specific hashtags.

Researchers found that even searches they anticipated to be weight neutral ultimately perpetuated the thin ideal, which can “reinforce to viewers the belief that weight is an important indicator of health status and overall self-worth”.

Critics of Ms Schmidt have routinely pointed out that ‘young girls have and will continue to die’ due to content like hers. Picture: Instagram

Critics of Ms Schmidt have routinely pointed out that “young girls have and will continue to die due to sh*t like this being peddled on the internet”.

“There’s something so deeply sinister about a ‘regular’ influencer posting food like this and pretending like it’s normal, ESPECIALLY because there’s a massive population of girls on TikTok who are too young to realise that eating like this isn’t okay,” others have written.

Head of communication and engagement at the Butterfly Foundation, Melissa Wilton, previously told news.com.au that developing social media literacy is “key” to making apps like TikTok or Instagram “a positive space for users, reducing the risk of developing or exacerbating an eating disorder or body image issue and improving resilience and wellbeing”.

“The power is in your hands – you can block or report distressing content and accounts, take regular breaks from scrolling … and fill feeds with positivity by following accounts that align with your own passions, hobbies, or interests outside of the realm of body appearance,” she said.

“If it is your friends that are posting this harmful content, and you don’t want to hurt their feelings by unfollowing them, use the ‘mute’ feature so you don’t see their content – they won’t be notified.”