Should social media giants be allowed to profit from YouTube celebrities such as Eugenia Cooney who are clearly unwell?

• Eugenia Cooney has more than five million followers on social media channels
• The 29-year-old from Los Angeles is shockingly underweight and visibly unwell

When I was discharged from the hospital after treatment for anorexia eight years ago, a psychiatrist’s last words were: “Stop scrolling through pictures of skinny girls on social media.”

It was a habit I picked up at the height of my eating disorder, which I suffered from in my early 20s.

My illness was never about striving for a certain body image – it was more about a search for control. But when I saw young women with similarly malnourished bodies living glamorous, successful lives, I was convinced that I was fine and didn’t need to eat.

I stuck to this rule until a week ago when I started reviewing videos posted by a hugely popular internet star named Eugenia Cooney.

I had known her for years but had avoided looking. I knew what I was about to see would disturb me.

It might seem harmless on paper: Los Angeles-based Eugenia, 29, gives fashion and makeup tips or simply chats about her life in clips that her two million YouTube followers see. There are another two million on TikTok, 700,000 on Instagram and 440,000 on the live streaming platform Twitch.

Los Angeles resident Eugenia Cooney, 29, gives fashion and makeup tips or simply chats about her life in clips viewed by her two million YouTube followers. There are another two million on TikTok, 700,000 on Instagram and 440,000 on the live streaming platform Twitch

But she is shockingly underweight. This is evident as she often wears clothing that shows off her slim figure, such as crop tops, short skirts, and spaghetti strap dresses.

The image of Eugenia reproduced here has been carefully selected and presented in the least graphic manner to comply with the strict media guidelines of the UK eating disorder charity Beat. This includes avoiding images of “emaciation” or patients with the lowest weight – but that is exactly what Eugenia’s large following sees.

It’s important to mention that Eugenia doesn’t talk about her body or diet, but it’s impossible to ignore her looks. Back in 2013, when she started posting on YouTube, people left comments expressing concerns. There were even petitions calling for her to be banned from social media platforms to force her to seek help.

Eugenia actually received treatment in 2019 after apparently concerned friends intervened. Later that year, she admitted to suffering from an “eating disorder” in an interview with another YouTube star named Shane Dawson – a clip that has since been viewed more than 30 million times.

Experts are also concerned about US social media influencer Nikocado Avocado, pictured, who has seven million followers on YouTube and entertains his fans by eating large quantities of food

Six months later, Eugenia was interviewed by US-based psychotherapist and YouTube personality Kati Morton. She said she’s no longer in “super-constant therapy… but whenever I feel like I’m struggling, I can talk to a therapist and send her a message.” Since then, she’s continued to lose weight – and has did not mention whether she received further treatment.

Those who eat a lot to become online stars

Experts have also raised the alarm about another popular US-based social media influencer named Nikocado Avocado.

The 31-year-old has seven million subscribers on YouTube and gained popularity by sharing videos of himself eating large amounts of food.

In a video released in July, Nikocado – whose real name is Nicholas Perry – is seen eating a huge pile of cheese noodles in one go, which he says contains 10,000 calories. It garnered 1.5 million views in just two months.

When Perry first shared videos in 2016, he weighed just over a tenth. According to his videos, his weight has doubled to about 22 today.

He has also admitted that his mental and physical health is deteriorating – he wears a mask to ease his breathing problems and is often tearful.

Perry’s videos aren’t unique: There’s a whole genre called “mukbang,” which involves eating large amounts of food while talking to the audience.

The appeal, according to some, lies in the vicarious thrill of overindulgence. Others suggest that messy eating may bring some sort of fetishistic pleasure.

But experts warn that they can trigger bouts of binge eating in people with eating disorders. A 2020 report by psychiatrists at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden concluded that videos of overeating can be a “destructive force that can trigger a relapse into loss of control over eating.”

In one of her latest posts, she is wearing a small pink bikini. She has all the signs of clinical malnutrition: extreme muscle and fat atrophy in the shoulders and arms, and extreme loss of subcutaneous fat in the face and abdomen.

Fans’ comments have taken a dark turn, with many expressing fears that she won’t be around for much longer.

“Get help now or it will be too late,” one young woman wrote in the comments under the clip. “I pray that you choose life, Eugenia. We want to see you master this.’

In videos posted in March and April, Eugenia’s mother – with whom she lives – seems strangely dismissive of such concerns: “I know she eats, she takes good care of herself,” she says. “She may be a skinny Minnie, but she takes good care of herself.”

Dr. Ashish Kumar, chair of the eating disorders department at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, says critically low weights put patients at a “high risk of death” from possible organ failure, which usually requires hospitalization. This then begs the question: Should the social media platforms take responsibility and remove Eugenia until she gets better?

Of course, I’m not saying that people with eating disorders shouldn’t have jobs or be in the public eye – I worked as a journalist for most of my illness. However, there is good evidence that sharing images that make severe eating disorders appear normal – or even glamorous – may be harmful to others who suffer from the illnesses or are vulnerable to developing them.

“There is a strong element of competition in eating disorders,” says Tom Quinn, a fellow at the Beat charity. “The disturbed voice can be very strong and tell the sufferer that they have to become thinner and thinner.” Images like these can fuel that.”

The “normalization” of extreme thinness is also harmful.

“Eugenia’s videos can be seen by those who suffer from eating disorders, and for this group they mean that there is no need to actively seek recovery,” says Hope Virgo, an eating disorder activist and former sufferer.

“A message like this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it can be.” When I was struggling with my eating disorder, I saw it and thought, “I can keep doing what I’m doing, there’s nothing wrong with me, I can do mine.” live on.”‘

AND there’s also the ethical question: Is it acceptable for social media giants to profit from a young woman who is clearly doing so badly?

Content creators on these platforms earn their income through a 50 percent cut of advertising revenue and paid subscriptions. Given the huge number of views Eugenia gets from each clip or live stream, online calculators suggest she could earn up to £7,250 per month from Twitch and between £500 and £800 from YouTube. This also means that the companies earn the same amount.

Instagram and TikTok told The Mail on Sunday that they would not remove any of Eugenia’s posts because they did not violate their policies. But TikTok also claims that it will not allow content that “depicts or promotes eating disorders or dangerous weight loss behaviors.” Both platforms said they could not remove content based solely on appearance, while an Instagram representative said they understood the concerns.

Dr. Ashish Kumar, chair of the eating disorders department at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, says critically low weights put patients at a “high risk of death” from possible organ failure, which usually requires hospitalization

While social media sites have no legal responsibility to protect the health of their stars, I would argue that there is a moral duty.

“Social media platforms should offer medical support to their stars who are very unwell, especially if they make money from it,” agrees Dr. Kumar too. He adds: “A lot of good work has been done in the modeling industry in recent years – now agents and clients are discussing the risk of eating disorders and whether they need medical help. The same should apply to social media stars.”

The concerns come in the same week that the Online Security Bill passed its final phase in Parliament. The legislation, which the government says will make Britain the “safest place in the world to be online”, will force social media companies to screen content, carry out risk assessments and remove potentially harmful posts.

But Beat expressed concerns that the bill may not go far enough, saying it doesn’t pay enough attention to the algorithms that drive more and more content about calorie counting or slimming figures. It also does not take into account the impact of nutrition and fitness content, nor does it specify what constitutes harmful eating disorder content.

In April, YouTube announced that it would change its policies to “prohibit content about eating disorders that features imitable behavior, or behavior that we have identified with experts as likely to encourage at-risk viewers to imitate.” However, a YouTube search turns up at least four videos featuring men and women promoting fasting diets – including one woman who didn’t eat for 23 days to lose weight.

In April, YouTube announced that it would change its policies to “prohibit content about eating disorders that features imitable behavior, or behavior that we have identified with experts as likely to encourage at-risk viewers to imitate.”

Where does it all end for Eugenia Cooney?

It’s unclear whether she received follow-up care, but her videos show visible weight loss about a year after she reportedly received treatment.

Now I’m worried that time might be running out. With eating disorders, you often have to hit rock bottom to achieve improvement. It was only after I lost my job and was threatened with being hospitalized that I realized the seriousness of my illness.

If the social media companies Eugenia relies on pulled the plug, she might have no choice but to confront her illness.

I agree with one of her followers who wrote under a video: “We know that if recovery does not happen very soon, it is inevitable.” It is not easy, but it is always possible. “You did it once, and you CAN do it again.”