“Transforming your body has never been easier! Whether you want to lose weight, improve or accentuate any part of your body. This is the slogan of an application offering artificial intelligence to modify the bodies of women that TikTok promotes on its platform. Among its tools are a “size reducer” or a “perfect breast editor”, which includes shapes such as “teardrop” or “super hot” with the aim of making the image “more popular” on the networks.
TikTok has been advertising this application for several weeks with several videos and inviting its users to download it. As elDiario.es was able to verify, all versions of the advertisement focus on photo editing tools to enlarge the chest “realistically”. Furthermore, several of them use as a basis the image of a content creator who has not given her permission to do so, the person concerned confirmed to this media.
“I have been receiving constant messages for two weeks from people asking me if I am advertising this type of application when it is a lie. It’s a bit overwhelming that your image is circulating on a social network of which you are not even a user and what’s more with such advertising”, laments the young woman. The application is intended for people over 17 years old.
TikTok assured that it had removed the advertisements after being contacted by elDiario.es. Official sources from the social network attributed its publication to “moderation errors” and the large amount of advertising circulating on the platform. They say their rules for advertisers veto the use of AI to show the “before and after” of edited content, although they did not refer to the sexist nature of the advertisement.
The social network created in China has an ad library where it claims that all those that appear on the platform are saved. It is a transparency tool that all major social networks have and which allows you to know the audience segment towards which the advertised content or the money invested was directed. However, unlike its competitors, TikTok’s library does not allow a reverse ad search if the identity of the person or company that paid for the promotion is not known.
This media was able to verify that only one of the versions of the advertisements (out of a minimum of four) had 26,200 views this Wednesday. The promoted application is developed by a studio based in the tax haven of Delaware (USA). Officials did not respond to this media’s request for information. Nor to the complaint and request for removal of advertisements expressed by the content creator whose image they used without her consent, issued on October 18.
Against “unattractive” users
This promotion of sexist ads comes just after a leak revealed a large number of communications between senior executives of the social network in which they expressed concern about the presence of “a large volume of unattractive topics” on the site. platform. These revelations are part of a legal investigation led by several United States attorneys general against the social network and indicate that it modified its algorithm to reduce the visibility of these people.
“By changing TikTok’s algorithm to display fewer “unattractive topics,” [TikTok] “took active steps to promote narrow beauty standards, even though doing so could harm younger users,” highlights the lawsuit filed by prosecutors against the social network. Regarding these leaks, TikTok claimed that it “carefully selects misleading quotes and takes outdated material out of context to misrepresent our commitment to community safety.”
The company also criticized the American media for taking advantage of a miscarriage of justice to access information “placed under summary secrecy”. The main revelation that has come to light since then is that its executives knew adults were using the app to try to bribe minors to take their clothes off live.
The effect of filters and applications to modify the image with AI
Although TikTok has removed the advertisements referred to in this information, since arriving in Spain the app has been at the center of the ethical debate over the use of AI-powered “beauty filters”. The reason is the harmful effects that their repeated use can cause on the mental health of users by setting standards that are unattainable in real life.
Especially among the youngest. “There is body dissatisfaction particularly because of the use of filters, because perfection is sought and symptoms of anxiety and low self-esteem end up appearing… This is called dysmorphia bodily. selfie“, explained Priscila Bueno, a psychosocial technician who answers calls at the FAD Juventud Foundation, in a conversation with this media. Moreover, “they mostly call girls, but they don’t identify that they have a problem, they report that they are not comfortable with their body or that they have anxiety. . And there we see the relationship with the networks, since they use them to manage their stress.”, he underlined.
“At this stage, comparison with others is fundamental. You’re looking for groups of equals, you’re looking for your place. External references are very important. If in this research you have references that are not real, we are lost: you are comparing yourself to something that does not exist and your level of requirements is enormous,” explains Montserrat Lacalle Sisteré, professor of psychology and science. of Education at the Open University of Catalonia.
As the leaked internal documentation revealed, TikTok employees suggested the company “offer users educational resources about image disorders” and create a campaign “to raise awareness of low self-esteem issues (caused by excessive use of filters and other issues). ). They also proposed adding some type of warning before using the filters, which would include “a statement raising awareness about the filters and the importance of positive body image and mental health.” The social network did not take the initiatives into account.
