‘Sick' filter that makes users appear fat is pulled after backlash on TikTok: ‘Fuels toxic diet culture'
They're going #nofilter.
The controversial 'chubby' filter has been yanked from the video editing app CapCut after it received backlash from users on TikTok.
A TikTok spokesperson confirmed to The Post that the filter was removed from CapCut.
The filter was being applied to photos on CapCut and then uploaded to TikTok, both ByteDance-owned apps.
A TikTok spox told BBC that content with the filter was being reviewed. Videos with the effect were then flagged as ineligible for recommendation to other users and teen accounts were barred from viewing them.
'It's definitely a step in the right direction,' TikTokker Sadie Bass, who previously slammed the viral filter on social media, told BBC.
'I'm happy that TikTok did that, because ultimately social media should be a fun, lighthearted place, not somewhere where you get bullied for how you look.'
The 29-year-old content creator, who hails from Bristol, posted a video this week prior to the removal of the filter, saying it made her 'want to scream.'
'Why are you acting like being fat is the worst thing in the world?' she said in the clip, which amassed over 618,000 views.
After catching wind that the filter had been deleted, she rejoiced online, saying she is 'beyond happy.'
'So important to recognize the damaging effects it can have, no one deserves to see their body being ridiculed,' she wrote. 'Thank you to every single person who spoke up & commented because we made this change happen.'
She is just one of the many creators on the app who were particularly outspoken about the filter, which was called 'cruel,' 'toxic,' 'disrespectful' and 'sick.'
Some even said the trend was a way to spot 'mean girls.'
Food and nutrition scientist Dr. Emma Beckett told BBC that the online fad was 'a huge step backwards' for body positivity.
'It's just the same old false stereotypes and tropes about people in larger bodies being lazy and flawed, and something to be desperately avoided,' she explained.
'The fear of weight gain contributes to eating disorders and body dissatisfaction, it fuels toxic diet culture, making people obsess over food and exercise in unhealthy ways and opening them up to scam products and fad diets.'
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