Stop Fake TikTok Influencers From Creating Real Body Dysmorphia
Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok
*Update: TikTok has removed some of the accounts the accompanying parent advisory to this campaign highlighted, but have yet to make any systemic changes for labeling fake influencers. Let's keep up the pressure!
TikTok is flooding kids' feeds with fake, computer-generated people pretending to be real influencers. AI-generated "influencers" created by companies to make a profit post photos and videos of people who appear to be real, but don't actually exist. These AI-generated people do things like apply make-up on flawless skin and show off perfect bodies, creating extreme and utterly unattainable beauty standards. Most of the millions of kids who encounter these accounts won't know the people they aspire to look like aren’t real people at all.
Right now TikTok relies on the companies that create these accounts to label them as AI but, with thousands of dollars per post on the line, they often do not. That’s why TikTok must proactively and clearly identify these accounts so young users know which accounts are real people and which are computer generated.
When asked about the impact of social media on their body image, nearly half (46%) of adolescents aged 13–17 said social media makes them feel worse. TikTok is already full of content promoting dangerous eating and exercise behaviors and unrealistic beauty filters. Accounts that promote body and beauty standards only a computer could attain make TikTok an even more dangerous place for kids and teens struggling with body image.
TikTok can not allow AI Influencers to keep perpetuating unrealistic body standards and tricking our kids into thinking they’re real. Please sign the petition to tell TikTok to start clearly labeling AI influencer accounts.
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To:
Shou Zi Chew, CEO of TikTok
From:
[Your Name]
Dear Mr. Chew,
AI Influencer accounts are all over the FYP, posing as real people who post perfect makeup selfies, trips to exotic locales, and workout routines that supposedly achieve perfect bodies. But these “influencers” are generated by artificial intelligence, making the companies who create them thousands of dollars per post with little incentive to label their profitable accounts as AI.
Research has already shown that TikTok is a potential minefield for kids and teens, your most vulnerable users, struggling with body image, self-esteem, disordered eating and other unhealthy behaviors. AI influencer accounts contribute to this dangerous culture by bombarding kids with beauty standards only a computer could meet.
Right now, you rely on the companies behind these accounts to label them but it’s clear that’s not working. TikTok must clearly label these accounts as AI to protect your most vulnerable users.
AI Influencers expose kids to unattainable and unhealthy body and beauty standards, which can lower self-esteem and lead to unhealthy behaviors. Stop allowing AI Influencer companies to use your platform to hurt and make money off of our children!