A new trend on TikTok has prompted discussions about body image and the racial and classist biases that often underpin beauty standards. This trend involves a viral filter that modifies users’ appearances to make them look either larger or thinner. Many of the videos feature thinner individuals reacting with laughter when the filter makes them appear more substantial, while others show larger individuals using the slimming effect as “motivation.” These videos are frequently set to Doechii’s song “Anxiety.”
The trend is another illustration of AI-driven tools being utilized in ways that can perpetuate harmful beauty ideals. Criticism has led to the removal of the filter from the platform. Initially, it appeared in CapCut, a video-editing app owned by TikTok. According to TikTok, the template has been removed from CapCut, although similar versions of the filter remain available. The company also informed the BBC that it is reviewing videos featuring the effect, preventing them from being recommended and blocking them from teen accounts.
Although searching for “chubby filter” yields no results, users have bypassed this by searching for terms like “chunky filter.” CNET reports that the filter now includes a disclaimer stating: “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 has not observed this disclaimer.
Writer Rebecca Shaw summarized the issue in a post on X, remarking, “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.” The Cut notes that this kind of fat shaming is not new, although it remains harmful.
