To: Instagram Community Guidelines and Instagram Users
This past year the world has been faced with a pandemic. In the face of this medical crisis, you were quick to assign a label to anything COVID related. By adding a banner to any post that was potentially sharing information related to coronavirus and directing users to the CDC helped filter misleading information. People were led to the proper sources of information regarding this critical scenario, which mitigated panic over misinformation.
My plea to you is to do the same for posts containing nutrition related content. False information being spread regarding nutritional health has been an issue since your platform’s creation, and you have done nothing to limit it. Clearly you have the ability to create this warning in a timely manner, as COVID was not even a year old.
Your platform has already created issues for so many people regarding body image; the least you can do is mitigate the spread of misinformation that fuels related issues such as eating disorders. Airbrush, photoshop, and filters have created unrealistic images of bodies for over 1 billion users. Allowing so-called health and fitness “influencers” to also post information regarding nutritional health is dangerous. Nutritional advice should only be given by registered dietitians, who are medical professionals that have gone through years of education.
I also implore Instagram users to consider this message I am sharing: when your parents told you that “not everything you see on the internet is true” they were correct. Especially regarding medical advice. To all of the impressionable young women out there who already struggle with body image enough, please ignore the infographics telling you how many calories are in your snacks, and forever disregard the impossibly lean “influencers” suggesting starvation diets. If you are truly concerned with your diet, please seek the help of a medical professional who will use years of training to carefully consider you as an individual. DO NOT trust the Instagram profile that only wants your attention to gain a following and make a profit.
Sincerely,
Eleanor Simon
A Concerned Instagram User and Nutrition Student
