Abstract
The emergence of platforms like TikTok has enabled consumers of social media to
share information and ideas with a vast audience in a matter of seconds. While the
increased interconnection of users is an ever-increasing benefit, it also provides a
breeding ground for deceptiveness and false information. This paper discusses the
prevalence of dieting and exercise-related falsification of information present on
TikTok. Though this issue is existent on most, if not all, social media platforms, TikTok
is a platform where content can be particularly contagious in terms of being indulged
by users and advocated by other content creators. Through my research, I have
discovered that the conjunction of TikTok’s algorithm, content creators with a large
following count, and the typical consumer age of this platform have intensified the
continuation of misinformation. On top of this, the younger audiences using TikTok
embrace this information which quite often results in the adoption of poor health
choices, disorders, and attitudes towards fitness-related activities. This paper provides
a reason for a more effective dissemination monitoring system to be fitted within
TikTok.

Paper
Do you ever find yourself mindlessly scrolling through your TikTok ‘For You’ page and
presented with videos declaring something along the lines of: “This supplement is
guaranteed to make you see changes!” or, “Your muscle mass will sky-rocket after
you add this to your daily dinners!”? Well, would you be surprised to find that
statistically around 20% of any type of information-spreading videos are found to
contain false information (Brewster. et al, 2022)? Since the introduction of social
media, fitness communities have become incredibly influential and dominant in 2023.
People labelled as “influencers” and “content creators” are the source of most of the
information that is spread amongst the platforms. As a result, communities (including
the fitness and exercise communities) spread this knowledge (both factual and false),
support and communication amongst members from all around the world. With a
predicted 834.3 million monthly users of TikTok (Insider Intelligence, 2023), it is no
wonder why the spreading of information, that is not accurate, is becoming an issue
that will be catastrophic to the attitudes, behaviour, and beliefs of not only adults but
to the future generations of children that will indulge in social media platforms. This
paper will explore the detrimental effects of the misinformation spreading, resulting
from the fitness community as a whole, that younger audiences can indulge in.

Since the 1990s, social media platforms have become an integral part of the world we
see today, being prevalent almost anywhere both digitally and physically. Social media
platforms are collectively defined as: “websites and applications that focus on
communication, community-based input, interaction, content sharing and
collaboration” (Lutkevich, 2021). If all platforms follow this basic principle, then what
sets TikTok apart from the others? The algorithm that software engineers have
masterfully put together is the main differentiator from other social media. It functions
by taking in data representing the content that a user interacts with which includes
likes, dislikes, shares, comments, etc. (Kumar, 2022). As a result, this algorithm
suggests and displays the short videos in the user’s ‘For You’ that relate to the content
you most recently interacted with, which gives TikTok its ‘addictive’ nature.

Quite often a negative outcome of this is the creation of a concept called echo
chambers, which is described as “an environment where a person encounters
information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own” (GCFGlobal, 2020). In the
case of users exploring fitness and dieting-related content on TikTok, they are
essentially sucked into the ‘Gym-Tok echo chamber’ as soon as they interact with a
video relating to this subject. The continuous consumption of this nature of content
means users are almost fully guaranteed to come across media that resembles
misinformation. User age group, location and gender are also factors the algorithm
considers when suggesting videos to display to the users. Research conducted by a
statistics company called Statista confirmed that women of ages between 18 and 24
made up 21.5% of TikTok’s total audience (as of January 2023) and males of the same
age range made up 17% of the global audience (as of January 2023), which gives a
total of 38.5% of users being between the ages of 18 and 24. A marketing and
advertising company by the name of Wallaroo also published a statistics sheet
(regarding TikTok), claiming that United States users between the ages of 10 and 19
made up 32.5% of the total US audience. Typically, the age groups that are most
susceptible to the influence of any social media platform are adolescence (puberty
through to 18) and young adulthood (18 to 25). Therefore, a correlation between the
effect of TikTok’s algorithm and the younger audiences that indulge in the content
TikTok provides can be made. Weak attempts have been made by TikTok to combat
the amount of falsification that occurs on the platform, according to journalists of
NewsGuard. They found that less than 1% of the 102 million videos that were removed
(for violating community guidelines) from the platform, in the first quarter of 2022, were
classed as violating ‘integrity and authenticity’ guidelines (Brewster. et al, 2022).
Furthermore, when specific news-related topics were searched the first 20 results
were found to contain false claims. This was compared to other means of gathering
information, such as Google, where a much less amount of false information was
displayed.

The influencers and content creators with a large following who are responsible for
representing the fitness and well-being communities on TikTok are quite often the
ones blamed for the spreading of misinformation. This is due to multiple factors such
as having a large following count correlates to users that they are a reliable source of
information, the use of language or the way they act in the videos they produce, or if
the content creator has a desirable body type the user would like to achieve. They gain
their popularity through being ‘relatable’ to their audiences, not because they spread
information that has been scientifically proven to be beneficial to a particular person
(AIPT, 2019). Particularly to young people, content creators are seen as role models
and people who know everything, so when they say “this food is good for…” then the
viewer will follow their message (Vasconcelos, 2019). Quite often this type of
knowledge comes from the personal experience of these content creators, who may
have vastly different body statistics such as gender, weight, age, etc. To further
enhance the ‘believability’ of these leaders in the fitness community, health and fitness
companies reach out to them for the purpose to market their product/s, and when
members of the community see that a reputable business is supporting them, they
anticipate that the influencers know what they are talking about (AIPT, 2019). The lack
of professional regulation on TikTok and any other social media platform further
compounds the spreading of misinformation, it makes it easier for content creators to
become an ‘authoritative figure’ in the community (Connor, 2020). According to studies
in Germany, more than one-third of 14 to 17-year-olds were deliberately seeking
health supplements and other related products on fitness role models’ TikTok
accounts, to further increase their well-being and fitness (Pilgrim, 2019). In the case
of fitness content creator Team Moe Fitness (@teammoefitness on TikTok), a video
was created regarding “4 Easy Hacks to get a Flatter Stomach”, which has received
1.4 million views since March 2021. The video explains that by not chewing gum, not
drinking liquids while eating, not eating right before sleeping and drinking lemon water,
you will obtain less bloating and a much flatter stomach. Another creator called Adam
Pecoraro (@thefitadam on TikTok) reacted to this video, debunking, and invalidating
what Team Moe Fitness states, essentially labelling it misinformation. Since Adam
Pecoraro studied exercise and nutrition, earning a Bachelor of Science (as clearly
stated on his website), while Team Moe Fitness does not display any form of
bachelor’s degree or recognised fitness education to back his theories, the claims Moe
makes in his content are more suspicious. However, because Moe has such a large
following (1 million as of March 2023), it makes his content easily believable because
so many users of the fitness community interact with it.

As stated earlier, the typical age of TikTok users is around 18 to 25 years of age, or
even younger, which qualifies as ‘Generation Z’ (incorporates ages 10 to 25). The
many trends of TikTok have seen a direct influence on users within Generation Z,
affecting many healthy living components such as dieting, workout splits, the intake of
both legal and banned supplements, sleeping habits, and many more. However, these
trends, in this case, weight loss trends, omit lifestyle factors that play a massive role
in the weight and health of a particular person, leaving the viewer with the message
that weight loss and a desirable body are achievable to all (Axios, 2022). This type of
influence has statistically led to unhealthy perceptions and behaviours, adopted by the
viewers, surrounding dieting and body image. Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) is a
disorder that can sprout from these types of behaviours and perceptions and is known
to begin at an early age in a person’s life. BDD typically begins during adolescence
and is triggered specifically when the teen or young adult obsesses about their
appearance, is overly critical of perceived minor flaws and experiences severe stress
as a result (Mental Health America, 2023). While these trends present on ‘Gym-Tok’
and ‘Diet-Tok’ are not all negative, there exists motivation and incentive that develops
viewers’ physical and eating lifestyles. But there comes a time when people,
particularly young adults, do not see results as quickly as they had first anticipated,
which can lead them down a dark path to many other disorders and banned substance
use. As a result of higher susceptibility within younger minds, accounts within the
fitness community, such as Dawson Barrett (@dawson_weiss on TikTok) who
promotes the use of a steroid called Trenbolone Acetate (5 times more potent than
Testosterone) and claims the use of the said substance is “not nearly as bad as people
say” (Hosie, 2022), influence these young adults into beginning a cycle as a ‘short-cut’
to obtain their desired body goals. This is because a study into the use of anabolic
steroids amongst the United States High School students exposed that 4.9% of males
and 2.4% of females have used a banned performance enhancer (that’s equivalent to
375,000 males and 175,000 females) (U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 2017).
Many content creators within the community are open about their steroid use, and
quite often give information regarding the downfalls of using them, yet there are many
more that do not disclose their ‘non-natural’ status which is ultimately more harmful to
the viewers’ attitudes. This type of content leads to a false sense of belief that the body
of the content creator is achievable without the use of PEDs (Performance Enhancing
Drugs), again increasing the risk of steroid use in viewers as they do not see the results
they expected.

Content creators within the fitness community of TikTok are maintaining and
increasing the prevalence, and circulation, of false information, leading to the adoption
of unhealthy behaviours, attitudes, and beliefs of younger audiences. As a result of
the mechanics that TikTok integrates on their platform, such as the infamous
algorithm, which aids the formation of echo chambers, essentially entrapping the users
of the social media network into only viewing selective content. Also, the ‘leaders’ of
the fitness community have allowed the spread of misinformation, due to their
believability and relatability. This has resulted in the use of banned substances among
younger audiences, as well as the formation of specific obsessive-compulsive and
related disorders. Some form of regulation, within TikTok, regarding the prevention of
false information being circulated, is in place, yet more needs to be done to form a
professional, reputable social media platform.

 

Want to download this paper? Use this PDF Link.

 

References

Tharrett, S. (2019). History of health clubs: How gyms have evolved through the ages. Les Mills. https://www.lesmills.com/clubs-and-facilities/research-insights/fitness-trends/history-of-health-clubs-how-gyms-have-evolved-through-the-ages/#:~:text=The%20earliest%20records%20indicate%20that,structured%20acrobatics%20and%20fitness%20training

Brewster, J. et al. (2022). Beware the ‘New Google:’ TikTok’s Search Engine Pumps Toxic Misinformation to Its Young Users. NewsGuard. https://www.newsguardtech.com/misinformation-monitor/september-2022/ 

D’Souza, D. (2023). Tiktok: What it is, how it works, and why it’s popular. Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/what-is-tiktok-4588933

Insider Intelligence (2023). TikTok users worldwide (2020-2025). Insider Intelligence. https://www.insiderintelligence.com/charts/global-tiktok-user-stats/#:~:text=TikTok%20will%20have%20834.3%20million,%2C%20Snapchat%2C%20and%20Twitter  

Lutkevich, B. and Wigmore, I. (2021). What is social media?, WhatIs.com. TechTarget. https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/definition/social-media 

Kumar, A.J. (2022). How TikTok’s unique algorithm changed the social media game. Entrepreneur. https://www.entrepreneur.com/science-technology/how-tiktoks-unique-algorithm-changed-the-social-media/431804#:~:text=TikTok’s%20key%20differentiator%20is%20that,groups%20who%20share%20those%20interests 

GCFGlobal, (2020). Digital Media Literacy: What is an echo chamber?. GCFGlobal.org. https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/digital-media-literacy/what-is-an-echo-chamber/1/#

Ceci, L. (2023). Global tiktok user age and gender distribution 2023. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1299771/tiktok-global-user-age-distribution/

Knoll, L.J. et al. (2017). Age-related differences in social influence on risk perception depend on the direction of influence. U.S. National Library of Medicine. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5614112/

AIPT. (2019). Are fitness influencers good for the fitness industry. AIPT. https://www.aipt.edu.au/articles/are-fitness-influencers-good-fitness-industry 

Vasconcelos, C.M.B.P.de (2019) Fake news vs. Healthy Diet [Doctoral Dissertation]. repositorio.iscte.pt. https://repositorio.iscte.pt/bitstream/10071/19036/1/master_catarina_pestana_vasconcelos.pdf 

Connor, L. (2020). 5 problems in the fitness industry and how to solve them – boutique fitness and gym management software. Glofox. https://www.glofox.com/blog/problems-in-the-fitness-industry/

Pilgrim, K. and Bohnet-Joschko, S. (2019). Selling health and happiness how influencers communicate on Instagram about dieting and exercise. BioMed Central. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-019-7387-8

Statista Research Department. (2022). Australia: Gym or fitness club usage share by age 2022. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/884706/australia-gym-or-fitness-club-usage-share-by-age/

Axios. (2022). Tiktok glorifies weight loss among teens, Young Adults: Study. Axios. https://www.axios.com/2022/11/02/tiktok-weight-loss-dieting-health-study 

Mental Health America. (2023). Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and Youth. Mental Health America. https://mhanational.org/body-dysmorphic-disorder-bdd-and-youth 

Hosie, R. and Dodgson, L. (2022). Fitness influencers lure followers by disclosing the steroid use behind their muscle gains. they’re not as honest about serious long-term health risks, Insider. https://www.insider.com/tiktok-fitness-influencers-steroids-downplay-risks-dangers-2022-7

U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2017). Teens and steroids: A dangerous combo. FDA. https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/teens-and-steroids-dangerous-combo#:~:text=Various%20studies%20have%20been%20conducted,least%20once%20in%20their%20lives.