A new TikTok trend has sparked discussions about body image and the often racist and classist biases embedded in beauty standards. The trend involves a viral filter that alters users’ appearances to make them look either larger or thinner. Many of the videos feature thinner people reacting with laughter when the filter makes them appear bigger, while others show larger people using the slimming effect as “motivation.” These videos are often set to Doechii’s song “Anxiety.”
It’s yet another example of AI-driven tools being used in ways that can reinforce harmful beauty ideals — and it just kind of sucks.
Following widespread criticism for promoting body shaming, the filter was removed from the platform. It originally appeared in CapCut, a video-editing app owned by TikTok. While TikTok told CNET that it had removed the template from CapCut, similar versions of the filter are still accessible. The company also told the BBC that it was reviewing videos featuring the effect, making them ineligible for recommendation, and blocking them from teen accounts.
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If you search for “chubby filter,” you won’t get any results, but users have found ways around this by searching for terms like “chunky filter.” According to CNET, the filter now includes a disclaimer that reads: “You are more than your weight. If you or someone you know has questions about body image, food, or exercise — it is important to know that help is out there and you are not alone. If you feel comfortable, you can confide in someone you trust or check out the resources below. Please remember to take care of yourselves and each other.” However, Mashable did not see this disclaimer.
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Writer Rebecca Shaw summed up the issue in a post on X, commenting, “There’s an amaaazing new trend on TikTok where skinny girls use a filter to become ‘chubby’ and laugh at the results and everyone else laughs and it’s sooooooo funny and we definitely aren’t spiraling back down to pro-ana, death-to-fats era that damages every young woman.”
As The Cut notes, this kind of fat shaming is nothing new — but that doesn’t make it any less harmful.
