TikTok to ban adverts promoting weight loss and fasting

The company said these type of adverts do not support the 'positive, inclusive, and safe experience' it aims to provide on the app

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said on Friday that it banned TikTok after receiving complaints about “immoral and indecent” content on the video-sharing platform. AP Photo

TikTok will ban adverts promoting weight loss supplements and fasting apps, it announced on Wednesday.

The video sharing platform said it would move to erase all adverts that “promote a harmful and negative body image”.

The platform has a substantial young audience, with more than a third of its 49 million daily users in the US below the age of 15.

And in recent months, these users have been exposed to an increasing number of adverts that promote products intended to aid weight loss.

“These types of ads do not support the positive, inclusive, and safe experience we strive for on TikTok,” the company said in a statement.

TikTok will also introduce a number of new policies to “combat problematic and exaggerated claims in diet and weight loss products, and placing stronger restrictions on weight loss claims and references to body image,” it said in a blog post announcing the changes.

These restrictions will ensure that any adverts for products that could be linked to weight loss will only be seen by users who say they are 18 years old or above, and adverts that promote weight loss cannot  “promote a negative body image or negative relationship with food”.

TikTok also said it will partner with the National Eating Disorders Association (Neda) to offer its users direct access to resources.

“As part of this, we’ll soon begin redirecting searches and hashtags – for terms provided to us by Neda, or associated with unsafe content we’ve removed from our platform – to the Neda Helpline, where Neda can then provide our community with confidential support, tools, and resources,” TikTok said in a blog post.