Instagram pro-eating disorder accounts reaching millions of users, many underage: report

The report found users as young as nine and 10 years old are part of the so-called "pro-eating disorder bubble," which generates over $290 million in revenue for Instagram.

Instagram’s algorithms are pushing pro-eating disorder content to millions of users, many of whom are minors as young as nine and 10 years old, according to a new report.

The report, released Thursday by the children’s advocacy group FairPlay, found up to 20 million users are being fed content by just 90,000 accounts that promote restrictive diets and extreme weight loss. About one-third of those accounts are run by underage users.

“This is a world that Instagram creates by recommending who to follow and recommending people follow each other,” said Rhys Farthing, the report’s lead author who works as the data policy director at online safety advocate Reset Australia.

“What struck me the most is that this algorithm was created by humans. It didn’t arise fully formed like Aphrodite. And it would be so simple to just change the algorithm and pop this bubble … but we’re not seeing that happen, and it’s incredibly harmful to young people.”

According to the report, Instagram’s parent company Meta derives an estimated $2 million in annual revenue from pro-eating disorder accounts, and nearly $228 million from its followers, whose average age is 19 years old.

Farthing and her research team identified 153 public “seed accounts” that each have over 1,000 followers and explicitly advocate for restrictive diets and extreme weight loss regimens.

The researchers calculated that approximately 1.6 million Instagram users followed at least one of those seed accounts, including 88,600 who followed three or more. At least one of those accounts were followed by up to 20 million users, many of whom were prompted to follow due to a mutual connection.

Test accounts set up by Farthing’s team would receive several recommendations for following pro-eating disorder accounts simply by expressing an interest in such content. Those accounts would also see their follower counts skyrocket despite being inactive for weeks.