Authored By: Sabina
Middlesex University Dubai
Trigger Warning
For educational purpose this legal article contains uncensored deliberation of mental health, eating disorders, anorexia and a slight mention of statistical data of suicide. It is understandable that it is a very sensitive and complex issue to many, nevertheless it is an important discussion that deserves to be addressed delicately and more frequently than it is at the present moment unfortunately.
Abstract
It is important to stay informed on subject matters like anorexia which are not as widely and openly talked about in the media. Influencers should spread awareness regarding all mental illnesses because most children, teenagers and even adults are struggling through it right at this moment. But how do we as a society impose responsibility on influencers who are not navigating towards spreading awareness, contrarily, are the ones encouraging harmful behaviour on the internet?
This legal article inspects how influencers directly and indirectly promote harmful behaviour on their social media platforms and whether thorough investigation shows that legal repercussions are being taken by the modern legal system currently.
It was recently recognised that influencers are professionally responsible in some areas of the laws, but it is important to be bringing responsibility in those areas where society is negatively impacted by it, such as health implications, mental health issues and suicide rates reaching high.
Every point made would have an opposing side to it, the opposing point which would be looked at would touch on the aspects of Human Rights and the online creative industry affected to those individuals if legal repercussions were to be taken due to the widespread promotion of harmful behaviour on the internet platforms.
If you distinctly know about how influencers are facing legal repercussions propagating anorexia today, by the end of reading this legal article, the reader will be informed of the shocking means of what is being taken and assumingly would be left off having a different perspective on ways in which the modern legal system interferes in situations where society has gotten negatively impacted on.
If you or someone who you know is currently struggling with the topic that is about to be disclosed below, immediately seek out help as quickly as possible because of its detrimental implications on a person that should be dealt with professionally and never in any way should be ignored by the people around or in this instance ignored by the trusted legal system.
Introduction
Because of the trust that they establish with their audiences, influencers have become a public figure who have evolved themselves from being just a regular daily user on social media, into someone who has the powerful ability to shape modern behaviour, purchases, attitudes and decisions. However, as their influence continues to grow larger than any other, particularly among the younger generation, an important legal question in mind emerges: When should influencers be held legally accountable for promoting harmful behaviour on the internet?
Before Starting
When using the term ‘harmful behaviour’ it will generally be considered in regards to mental health issues, more specifically anorexia, as that is what is closer to me and my experience. The last aim of this legal article is to mislead anyone by talking about a topic that I personally am not educated in. As well as, to keep in mind that by reaching closer to the conclusion part of this article there will be shared something quite personal.
Mental Health Issues
Concerns regarding mental health, particularly eating disorders, have become much more widespread in today’s modern world. In an effort to determine where the root of this prominent problem lies, @jonathanhaidt conducted a study on Instagram in which they pretended to be teenagers to see whether Instagram can be trusted to protect teens[1]. Whilst the investigation was still actively taking place, it was discovered that 1 out of every 4 videos discussed eating disorders on their Instagram feed. It was led to conclude that influencers are the ones in charge of propagating content no matter how hard each and every platform tries to introduce new features like Instagram’s “Built-In protections for Teens, Peace of Mind for Parents” or TikTok’s “Community Guidelines” because by the end of the day when teens will close the app, they will be left off having unattainable and harmful beauty standards.
Additionally, as Professor Max Helveston highlighted in his article taken from Depaul University, there is a lack of legal repercussions for individuals that make money from social media[2]. It is quite bizarre to many that in this modern advanced legal system, there seems to be insufficient legal regulations imposed on influencers who openly promote detrimental lifestyles to many children, teenagers and adults. This is a direct leading cause as to why the death rates have gone much higher than in the past. Quantitatively, individuals who have an eating disorder are 18 times higher risk of suicide compared to those without an eating disorder[3]. But, there were no legal consequences taken into consideration or even as much as thought about bringing the subject matter into discussion from detailed inspection that was done in advance in preparation for this legal article.
Let me ask you this:
Could you recall when a public figure was actually held legally accountable for encouraging harmful behaviours online?
Yes, the content may have been blocked, but did stop others from posting similar content ideas in the long term? No.
Matter of fact, a lot of the time the content does not get blocked and is out there roaming on the internet freely without having taken any action to prevent it from those who could be easily influenced. Which is a direct documented confirmation of what Max Helveston had orally spoken about.
There is a Slavic blogger on TikTok, @alina_Lipnitskaya, who is subtly endorsing harmful body image without facing any repercussions, as I have discussed. It is not only that the account is not receiving any legal liability but, the account is not receiving fewer shares, fewer viewing, nor is the content being blocked. Contrarily, she has 1.5 million followers and has almost millions of views on every single video of her indirectly promoting her “skinny” body. Which actively validates the assumption that nothing is being done to prevent this from having a detrimental impact on the platform’s younger audience.
She may not be directly informing her viewers to do similar attributes as her, however, it definitely does not mean she is not responsible for promoting such hazardous behaviour openly online to her millions of audience base.
Instances of Influencer Liability
Taking into consideration a personal viewpoint, when it comes to heavily propagating eating disorders, influencers should be held legally accountable for setting it as a “norm” on the internet because it does in the long term affect society negatively in various ways, which by the law, is seen as going beyond the bounds of it. This already demonstrates to society that influencers are recognised by the law as individuals with professional responsibilities rather than an ordinary social media user. Following TorHoerman Law, lawsuit claims allegedly have been filed because of many clients’ belief that they or their children were exposed to serious mental health issues like anorexia due to the various contributions that social media had.
TorHoerman Law is the only website that was found, through thorough personal investigation, to be contributing as much as possible to society by actively accepting clients who believe they or their close ones have been harmed by online platforms and are seeking justice to be served[4]. But the aim that is trying to be achieved is to hold influencers legally accountable for promoting harmful behaviour, not social media platforms.
In legal perspective, there is no such capability, currently, that would hold each and every influencer legally liable for promoting eating disorders or subtly hinting at it. Nevertheless, there have been times when influencers’ behaviour are crossing legal boundaries and are already held accountable which goes under advertising laws[5]. For example, many jurisdictions require sponsored partnerships or sponsorships to be disclosed momentarily to audiences as failure to do so may mislead customers, leading to legal repercussions being taken by authorities.
Opposing Argument
In the meantime, there may be a counter argument present that daily platform users hold themselves accountable for their own actions whether it be harmful or not. If we hold all influencers accountable for each and every harmful action committed by their followers, this would create resonance surrounding Freedom of Speech and the online creativity industry which is the whole point of using a social media platform. Freedom of Speech is a Human Right for individuals to have the right in expressing opinion, ideas and information without any interference, censorship or punishment as a cause. Similarly, the online creative industry is for individuals to express themselves in different ways without being judged as commonly as it was done in the past. By holding influencers legally accountable, it does not refrain from what their rights were set to prevent at the very beginning, the platforms are an open space that was created to welcome each and every individual user who would have the opportunity in feeling safe while expressing their opinion, informing audiences, and sharing innovative ideas. Influencers, when discussing basic human rights, are entitled to those basic human rights equally as everyone else in society because influencers are just basic citizens following and obeying the laws set[6]. If the upcoming laws were to decide on holding influencers legally accountable for the spread of harmful behaviour, would that not mean that it is an invasion of Freedom of Speech and the online creative industry?
Now A Personal Storytime To End This All Off
The aim of sending this message is to spread awareness about this sensitive and complex subject matter because it holds a close place to my heart; I struggled with it, therefore I will do anything I possibly can to help others who are struggling similarly or even worse in that case. Influencers have conveyed false expectations of what a “perfect body” is or should be which in the long term, from having put myself through various unhealthy means of reaching the subjective “perfect” body image, caused detrimental results that I am still suffering till this period of time. Although it was and still is my responsibility for having induced myself onto these “trends”, it is irrepressible but to also blame those who have been given by their audiences a powerful position in influencing people, yet they spend navigating it in harmful ways.
Conclusion
Anorexia is a serious and life-threatening eating disorder in which a person loses an unhealthy amount of weight by restricting their food intake on purpose; it is often due to having an intense fear of gaining weight or obsessing over being thin. It develops from negative thoughts and feelings about eating, weight and body image. These thoughts slowly take over the person’s whole life. It causes the person to think, feel and act in extreme detrimental ways to avoid food intake[7]. Bearing in mind other eating disorders, anorexia is known for having the highest case mortality rate compared to any other mental illness and this whole legal article confirms why statistically that is the case in the modern world. We have real examples of some celebrities who are “victims” of their own unobtainable body image standards that they have created themselves: Ariana Grande, Alexa Demie, Cynthia Erivo, Lily Collins and the list is quite endless. Even though the modern legal system is complex in its own right, it is still achievable to hold influencers legally liable for having a major negative impact on society. The laws are meant to protect its society, but due to widespread exposure and influencers’ freedom of posting on the internet without any judicial outcome being considered, they are gradually destroying the next generation, which is proven to date, more likely than the previous generation to suffer from mental illness. As a society, I believe that it should be discussed more frequently than it is at the present moment unfortunately.
Reference(S):
Secondary Sources
Cleveland Clinic, ‘Anorexia Nervosa’ (my.clevelandclinic.org, 21 January 2026) <https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9794-anorexia-nervosa> accessed 13 May 2026
Equality and Human Rights Commission, ‘Article 10: Freedom of expression’ (equalityhumanrights.com, 3 June 2021) <https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/human-rights/human-rights-act/article-10-freedom-expression> accessed 10 May 2026
Haidt, J., [@jonathanhaidt], ‘Can we trust Instagram to protect our teens?’ (Instagram, 14 April 2026) <https://www.instagram.com/jonathanhaidt?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw= > accessed 10 May 2026
Helveston, M., ‘Holding influencers accountable for bad health advice’ (DePaul University, 11 March 2026) <https://www.depaul.edu/news/health-influencer-research> accessed 10 May 2026
International Trademark Association, ‘Overview of Advertising Law’ (insta.org) <https://www.inta.org/wp-content/uploads/public-files/resources/Overview-of-Advertising-Law.pdf> accessed 9 May 2026
National Institute of Mental Health, ‘Eating Disorders’ (nimh.nih.gov) <https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/eating-disorders> accessed 9 May 2026
Grant, S., [@sharellegrant], ‘The average woman will spend over 17 years of her life dieting’ (Instagram, 7 March 2026) <https://www.instagram.com/sharellegrant?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw== > accessed 10 May 2026
TorHoerman Law, ‘Social Media Anorexia Lawsuit [2026 Update]’ (torhoermanlaw.com, 5 May 2026)<https://www.torhoermanlaw.com/social-media-mental-health-lawsuit/social-media-anorexia-lawsuit/> accessed 10 May 2026
[1] Jonathan Haidt [@jonathanhaidt], ‘Can we trust Instagram to protect our teens?’ (Instagram, 14 April 2026) <https://www.instagram.com/jonathanhaidt?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw= > accessed 10 May 2026.
[2] Max Helveston, ‘Holding influencers accountable for bad health advice’ (DePaul University, 11 March 2026) <https://www.depaul.edu/news/health-influencer-research> accessed 10 May 2026.
[3] National Institute of Mental Health, ‘Eating Disorders’ (nimh.nih.gov) <https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/eating-disorders> accessed 9 May 2026.
[4] TorHoerman Law, ‘Social Media Anorexia Lawsuit [2026 Update]’ (torhoermanlaw.com, 5 May 2026) <https://www.torhoermanlaw.com/social-media-mental-health-lawsuit/social-media-anorexia-lawsuit/> accessed 10 May 2026.
[5] International Trademark Association, ‘Overview of Advertising Law’ (insta.org) <https://www.inta.org/wp-content/uploads/public-files/resources/Overview-of-Advertising-Law.pdf> accessed 9 May 2026.
[6] Equality and Human Rights Commission, ‘Article 10: Freedom of expression’ (equalityhumanrights.com, 3 June 2021) <https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/human-rights/human-rights-act/article-10-freedom-expression> accessed 10 May 2026.
[7] Cleveland Clinic, ‘Anorexia Nervosa’ (my.clevelandclinic.org, 21 January 2026) <https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/9794-anorexia-nervosa> accessed 13 May 2026.
