Posts encouraging eating disorders were recommended to X users

October 9, 2024

A sad woman's reflection in a window

(NBC News) – X is just the latest platform to struggle with user groups creating eating disorder content, where teens can fall down a rabbit hole that promotes extreme thinness.

Users refer to the groups as part of “edtwt”(eating disorder Twitter), referring to X’s previous name.The posts are a glimpse into a thriving social media subculture that has migrated across platforms for over a decade, well before Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, and has an even longer history across social media platforms, from Tumblr and Pinterest in the 2010s to Instagram and TikTok today. X, which experienced major upheaval after Musk became CEO of the company, is the latest platform to struggle with moderation of the subculture. (Read More)