TikTok BLASTED for 'fatphobic' filter that puffs up users' faces to reveal their 'ugly' selves
A new filter has sparked an uproar on TikTok after it bloated users' faces and added wrinkles to them so they could see what they'd look like if they were "ugly."
The apparently "fatphobic" filter went viral in early June after it allowed people to make their faces 'puffed up' and bumpy. Users began posting videos of themselves with and without the filter, adding the soundtrack '1, 2, 3' by Sofia Reyes in the background. It wasn't long before hundreds of TikTokers participated in the trend, but the backlash was equally swift as the app was blasted for offering the "blatantly fatphobic" filter in the first place.
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The trend soon sparked an avalanche of critical comments on TikTok, with one writing, "How about we not make another trend that shames people for their body type?" Someone else added, "Oh great, another fatphobic trend. We get it, y'all hate fat people. Go get an actual personality." Another added, "I know everyone's making videos about this trend but yikes to anyone doing this. Fatphobes." A different user asked, "Why do people keep making filters to make fun of fat people? Lol what?" One comment read, "This trend doesn't sit right with me... Like, are you trying to reissue the fact that you're not fat?" Another asked in a video of their own, "Y'all see nothing wrong with this trend...?" Yet another offered, "This trend doesn't sit right with me. Always with the fatphobic trends."
Speaking to the Daily Dot, one TikToker identified only as Oliver said the trend made "his heart sad." He explained, "I’ve been bullied my whole life for having a round face and it just reminded me of those times." There were a few, however, who appreciated the filter. "You go from having to see yourself with a larger, round, fat face and then you take off the filter and feel relieved that you don't actually look like that," one TikToker wrote, saying it gave her a "confidence boost."
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It's worth noting that TikTok has faced strong pushbacks for filters in the past. The platform sparked controversy in January after releasing a filter that puts a fake black eye and cut on the user's face. Many people used the filter to prank loved ones by sending clips of themselves looking injured, but the trend was quickly slammed for "romanticizing violence." Recently, TikTok drew the ire of a group of mothers who started removing videos of their kids from the platform after they noticed that creeps and perverts were leaving inappropriate comments on the account of a three-year-old girl named Wren Eleanor, who has become a viral star on the platform with over 17 million followers.