Pinterest’s visual platform seems a logical place for people with eating disorders to pin and share photos of their unhealthy ideals.
To combat this potential issue, Pinterest made made an overt effort to ban “user content that… creates a risk of harm, loss, physical or mental injury” when the social network updated its Acceptable Use Policy in March.
Now, Pinterest has taken that gesture a step further. Users who now search the term “thinspo” on the network will find zero results. Instead, users see the following warning:
“Eating disorders are not lifestyle choices, they are mental disorders that if left untreated can cause serious health problems or could even be life-threatening.
For treatment referrals, information, and support, you can always contact the National Eating Disorders Association Helpline at 1-800-931-2237 or www.nationaleatingdisorders.org.”
A search for “thinspiration” yields eight results mostly of toned, tiny bodies, but it’s prefaced with the same warning.
The Daily Dot discovered the shift after a Tumblr user, laurenlikesthings, blogged about it:
“This is what happens when you search “thinspo” on pinterest,” she wrote. “FAITH IN HUMANITY IS RESTORED.”
Both Tumblr and Instagram began cracking down on thinspiration in early 2012, but neither of those social networks has posted a warning in search results like Pinterest has. Perhaps that’s why Tumblr’s “thinspo” tag is full and Pinterest’s is nonexistent.
Photo by Gabriella Corrado
