Teenagers are feeling Vulnerable' Fears over use of online beauty filters

Just one click on the "glossy babe" filter and the teenager's face was subtly elongated, her nose made neater and a dusting of freckles sprinkled across her cheeks.

- Robert Booth

Next, a "glow makeup" filter erased skin blemishes, puffed her lips into a rosebud and extended her eyelashes far beyond what makeup could achieve. With a third click her face was back to reality.

Hundreds of millions of people now use beauty filters to alter their appearance on apps including Snapchat, Instagram and TikTok. This week, TikTok announced worldwide restrictions on children's access to those that ape the effects of cosmetic surgery.

It followed a survey of nearly 200 teenagers and parents in the UK, US and several other countries found girls were "susceptible to feelings of low self-worth" as a result of their online experiences. The decision comes amid rising concern about the wellbeing impact of the rapidly advancing manipulation of faces as generative AI enables what have been termed "micro-personality cults". It is no small matter: TikTok has about 1 billion users.

A forthcoming study by Sonia Livingstone, a professor of social psychology at the London School of Economics, will show the pressures and social comparisons that result from using increasingly image-manipulated social media may have a greater effect on mental health than witnessing violence.

Hundreds of millions of people are now using alternative reality filters on social media every day - from comic dog ears to beauty filters reshaping noses, whitening teeth and widening eyes.