Intouch Public Health

Mariah Issa, Imogen Croucher, Allyson Todd, Dr Stephanie Partridge, Rebecca Raeside

Adolescence is a time where young people are forming their identity, and are susceptible to environmental, commercial, and social influences.

With the rise of ‘wellness’ influencers on Instagram and TikTok, and a bombardment of marketing tactics from large companies, teens are being forced to navigate an increasingly confusing environment – particularly when it comes to diet and nutrition.

Research has repeatedly shown that adolescents are flocking to social media for health information in place of traditional healthcare services. The reasons for this are manifold, with cost and convenience being just two.

Sites like Instagram and TikTok contribute to the increased accessibility of health information, but the limited regulation of these platforms has given rise to nutrition misinformation that is spreading faster than it can be tamed.

Paired with lower health literacy skills, adolescents are vulnerable to believe misleading nutrition content, delivered by unqualified influencers or credentialed professionals with  commercial interests.

With the constant circulation of viral diet trends and widespread marketing of unhealthy food and beverages online, the time is ripe for stricter regulation of these platforms to prioritise adolescent wellbeing.

Greater action is needed to promote a healthier online environment, but a ban isn’t the answer

Negative health effects associated with frequent social media usage include increased sedentary time, increasing rates of depression and anxiety, and exposure to marketing of unhealthy products and misinformation.

Adolescence is also associated with an increased risk for developing disordered eating behaviours that extend into adulthood and can increase the risk of chronic disease.

In response, the current Federal Government and the opposition have expressed support for a social media ban for Australians under 16.

Since psychological drivers increase the adolescent desire to take risks, a ban will only provoke them to find alternative ways of accessing social media sites.

As this ban assumes adolescents will stop engaging with social media, no strategies will be implemented to protect this age group – leaving them in an uncensored digital environment.

In the physical world, laws stop non-qualified individuals from being paid to provide non-evidence-based health information.

However, in the digital world, social media influencers without nutritional qualifications are being paid thousands of dollars to spread misinformation at the benefit of commercial companies.

In addition, commercial food and beverage companies extensively use social media to advertise unhealthy products.

In 2023, a group of health professionals used their social media profiles to discount the potential health consequences of the artificial sweetener aspartame, which had been flagged by the World Health Organization as potentially carcinogenic.

It was later revealed that these individuals were paid as part of a campaign by American Beverage to protect the sale of aspartame-sweetened drinks.

Consequences of such misinformation online, including the increasing rates of eating disorders, overweight and obesity, depression, and anxiety should not be undermined.

These trends emphasise the role social media plays in shaping adolescent wellbeing.

No excuse for social media companies not to act

Social media platforms actively countered misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What makes harmful diet messaging and advertising of unhealthful products any less of a concern to public health?

The onus should not solely be on individuals to take responsibility for how social media affects their health. Social media companies have a growing responsibility to stop nutritional misinformation and unhealthy marketing from proliferating on their platforms.

TikTok and Instagram have taken steps to address this: for example, TikTok’s guidelines for ‘Youth Safety and Well-being’ protects users from disordered eating and low body image by removing content that promotes these behaviours for viewers younger than 18.

While these guidelines are designed to protect adolescents from harm, they don’t control more insidious content around fad diets and superfood supplements that hide behind the facade of wellness.

On the other hand, social media can be a positive vessel for fostering social connection amongst adolescent users, and a platform to champion marginalised voices that would otherwise remain unheard.

These contributors to adolescent wellbeing would be jeopardised with the imposition of a social media ban.

That’s why we’re advocating to keep social media available to adolescents, while ensuring greater steps are taken to keep the digital environment safe and positive.

To achieve this, we suggest platforms:

4. Install measures to make misinformation apparent to users. This may include features such as a verified tick of a distinctive colour to allow easy identification of legally-credentialled health professionals, or pop-ups on posts that contain misinformation (like during COVID-19).
5. Work to improve adolescent health literacy by encouraging credentialed health professionals to share content on the platforms young people use and link adolescent consumers from social media to healthcare services.
6. Allow public health researchers to obtain information from social media platforms to enable greater understanding of social media impacts on physical and mental health, and then develop effective evidence-based health interventions that can be co-designed with adolescents.
7. Limit unhealthy food marketing online, as supported by PHAA’s recent submission to the feasibility study on options to limit unhealthy food marketing to children.

Promoting content produced by qualified health professionals over trending fad diets, and restricting unhealthy advertising, will likely draw in less revenue for social media companies.

But the health and wellbeing of our young people is at stake.

Protecting them begins with holding these companies accountable and putting profits second.

Mariah Issa and Imogen Croucher are Master of Nutrition and Dietetics students; Allyson Todd is a Research Officer and PhD Candidate; Dr Stephanie Partridge is a Senior Research Fellow; Rebecca Reside is Research Associate and PhD Candidate; all based at the University of Sydney.