TikTok removes “chubby filter” after massive backlash

A filter that makes you look overweight has been removed from TikTok after sparking a lot of controversy.

Also known as the “chubby filter,” the AI tool uses a real-life photo of a person and adds extra weight to make him or her look fat.

Many users posted before and after videos on TikTok, joking how different they looked when they gained extra weight. “If this doesn’t scare me into sticking to the gym, I don’t know what will,” this video on TikTok reads.

It didn’t take long for the ‘chubby filter’ to become controversial. Many social media users were outraged: they felt that the AI tool was used for body shaming, possibly inciting people into an eating disorder.

“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,” food and nutrition scientist Dr Emma Beckett told the BBC, the first news outlet to report about the filter.

Numerous women posted videos of their fuller bodies, saying “No, this isn’t a chubby filter, this is my real-life body.” A user said it was “a reminder that I live in this body” and that the body shaming needs to stop.

TikTok said the filter had been uploaded by CapCut, a user-friendly and all-in-one video and image editing platform that harnesses the power of AI. It’s a separate company from TikTok but has the same parent company: ByteDance.

TikTok told the BBC it was reviewing videos that were uploaded to its platform that used the questionable filter. Additionally, these videos are ineligible for recommendation and are blocked from teen accounts.

TikTok has repeatedly told media outlets that any videos violating community guidelines would be removed.