TikTok tackles idealized beauty standards by restricting filters among under-18 users

TikTok‘s effort to combat idealized beauty standards and their effect on teens is now extending to the realm of visual effects. The app’s European Safety Forum in Dublin included an announcement about beauty filters, some of which will soon be locked for users under the age of 18.

The restrictions on filters draw on the results of a survey commissioned by TikTok and conducted by U.K.-based nonprofit Internet Matters. The survey gave teens a chance to express how social platforms affect their identities, and one theme became clear: The respondents value authenticity, especially when it comes to physical appearance.

The report “identified new insights about teens’ use of effects and the impact this has on their sense of self,” according to a TikTok Newsroom post. “A clear distinction was drawn between effects designed to be obvious and funny (e.g. animal ear effects) and effects designed to alter your appearance.”

To meet the demands of its youngest users, TikTok will age-restrict certain filters while also adding disclaimers that explain how the filters change one’s appearance. New resources will also pop up in the Effects House hub, where TikTok will advise creators on the “unintended outcomes” that could arise from the proliferation of their filters. These changes are expected to go live “in the coming weeks.”

As the links between social media content and the youth mental health crisis have become evident, platforms like TikTok, Meta, and Snap have teamed up to curb the spread of idealized beauty standards. YouTube’s efforts in that area have included adjusted recommendations, while TikTok has taken on controversial weight-loss solutions like Ozempic and other problematic substances (such as steroid-like drugs).

Those solutions have offered a response to inquiries made by U.S. attorneys general, but the latest crackdown on filters is an E.U.-based initiative. That’s where the wide-reaching Digital Services Act has empowered regulators to check TikTok on issues like algorithms and addictive reward structures.

On our side of the pond, the discussion of idealized beauty standards has been channeled through pop culture that tackles that subject, such as the recent Hollywood hit The Substance. To encourage more policies like the ones coming to Europe, U.S. lawmakers can continue to pressure TikTok regarding its impact on the youth mental health crisis. In the pro-TikTok milieu of the second Trump term, that might be easier said than done.