Social media sites urged to add links to eating disorder supports on diet culture promotion

There has been an 'explosion' of eating disorder referrals throughout the pandemic. File Picture: iStock Photo

Facebook and Instagram have been urged to place links to official eating disorder support pages on posts to counter the "surge of disinformation about diet culture and body image" online.

Labour Party senator Annie Hoey said she is stunned by the "explosion" of eating disorder referrals throughout the pandemic, and believes that social media now has a critical role to play in providing support for people suffering from these disorders.

She is calling on social media platforms to include swipe-up links on content that could be triggering for those suffering or recovering from eating disorders, similar to what has been done in relation to Covid-19 posts.

Labour Party senator Annie Hoey

Recent figures show there was a 66% increase in hospital admissions for eating disorders last year compared to 2019.

"While there are many reasons for this surge, we would be foolish to ignore the influence of so-called 'diet culture', which is so widely promoted on social media sites such as Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter," said Ms Hoey.

What is most pervasive about this type of information is that it is promoted directly by people who users admire, on a platform they trust."

Ms Hoey added that social media platforms have "a huge opportunity" to play a role in countering this surge of disinformation about diet culture and body image.

"We know that it is possible because we have seen them play a similar role in tackling disinformation during the Covid-19 pandemic," she said.

"Instagram has played a very important role in providing information on the Covid-19 pandemic as the situation evolved and developed, particularly in relation to vaccines.

"The addition of a swipe-up option on any mention of Covid-19 has been a useful way to provide clear, unbiased information to users. We believe there is also an opportunity for it to protect us in the future, which is why I’ve written to Instagram to ask them to do the same for diet culture." 

We believe that by Instagram, and other social media platforms, adding this function, we could see meaningful change for people."

She said the demand for eating disorder treatment has long surpassed the capacity to address it, and additional specialists and extra resources for community intervention for those suffering from eating disorders are urgently required.

"The same three beds have been available for ED care for over a decade now, despite clear knowledge that eating disorders have the highest mortality and morbidity of all of the mental health conditions," said Ms Hoey.