To: YouTube’s CEO Neal Mohan and TikTok’s CEO Shou Zi Chew

From: Center for Countering Digital Hate and our supporters

Children and people at a moment of vulnerability deserve to be safe online. They should never be recommended harmful body image content that drags them into dangerous rabbit holes. 

Yet your platforms continue to recommend and amplify content that glorifies eating disorders, extreme dieting, dangerous body-enhancing drugs, self-harm, and unrealistic body ideals to the very people most at risk. 

The consequences are real. 

By the age of nine, a girl identified as KGM was already hooked to Instagram and YouTube. Over time, she developed an addiction to these platforms that contributed to body dysmorphia, anxiety, and depression. In February, a landmark trial in Los Angeles found Meta and YouTube’s parent company, Google, liable for harm caused to her. 

But her story isn’t the only one. 

Research from the Center for Countering Digital Hate has repeatedly found that your recommendation systems amplify harmful body image content across multiple platforms. Our investigations have shown YouTube recommending eating disorder content to girls as young as 13, TikTok promoting potentially deadly bodybuilding drugs to young men, and recommendation systems directing vulnerable users towards more harmful content. 

You know this is happening. And you also know it can be reduced. 

Our latest investigation found that harmful eating disorder recommendations on YouTube fell from 1 in 3 videos in 2024 to 1 in 9 in 2026, after stronger safeguards were introduced following new online safety obligations in the UK and EU. 

This progress proves that when there is will, you can act. These harms are not inevitable because your platforms can be made safer. 

But one harmful recommendation to a child is one too many. 

You shouldn’t have to wait for new laws, court cases, or public pressure before protecting the people who use your products. Children and people going through a moment of vulnerability deserve better because it's the right thing to do. 

We urge you to: 

• Stop recommending harmful body image content, including eating disorder and self-harm content. 
• Apply your existing safeguards consistently across your platforms instead of allowing harmful recommendations to continue reaching those most at risk. 
• Be transparent about how your recommendation systems amplify harmful body image content and regularly publish evidence showing your safeguards are working.  

You built these recommendation systems. You have the power to change them. Now it's time to use it. 

Sincerely,  

CCDH and our supporters