Blurring the Boundaries: An Investigation of Eating Disorder Recovery Content on TikTok

Eating disorder recovery content is widely circulated on TikTok. We thematically analyzed recovery content on TikTok, examined its associations with symptom severity among individuals with eating disorders, and assessed its co-occurrence with pro-eating disorder material within their TikTok feeds.

Study 1 was a qualitative reflexive thematic analysis of 250 TikTok posts containing eating disorder recovery hashtags. Study 2 was a quantitative examination of TikTok usage data and symptom severity collected from 42 individuals with eating disorders over a one-month period.

Fifty percent of "recovery" posts contained pro-eating disorder elements, including imagery or messaging consistent with disordered eating norms, weight comparisons, and thin-ideal reinforcement. Quantitative analyses provided no evidence that greater exposure to recovery content was associated with lower or higher eating disorder symptom severity, although the study was underpowered to detect small-to-moderate effects. Recovery and pro-eating disorder content were strongly correlated within participants' TikTok feeds in terms of the volume of videos delivered (Spearman's ρ = 0.91) and their proportional representation (ρ = 0.77), with the former association remaining high even after controlling for overall TikTok exposure (ρ = 0.81).

Our findings raise concerns about the safety of TikTok recovery spaces. TikTok content pitched as "eating disorder recovery" frequently contains pro-eating disorder features, shows no strong protective association with symptom severity, and is regularly encountered alongside pro-eating disorder content within users' feeds. We conclude that overlap between recovery content and pro-eating disorder content operates at two levels: within individual videos and across the broader feed context.