The most troubling activity happens in private. An April 2025 study, “Unfiltered,” analyzed 451 Instagram DM conversations from 67 teens and coded 1,596 sub-threads.
Researchers found body shaming and negative interactions concentrated in group chats, while one-to-one conversations were more likely to include support or empathy. Safety prompts inside DMs did not prevent harmful exchanges.
Hashtags and coded language keep the cycle going. The 5Rights Foundation’s Teen Accounts case study documented how teens can still find unhealthy lifestyle communities via related tags when obvious terms are blocked, leaving vulnerable users exposed to content that normalizes unsafe practices.
Policy pressure is rising but outcomes are what matter. The European Commission opened formal proceedings in May 2024 to assess whether Meta breached the Digital Services Act on the protection of minors, citing design and recommendation concerns on Facebook and Instagram. These cases shift attention from feature lists to measurable risk reduction for teens.
To ground the DM and hashtag risks in fresh evidence, the Snoopreport case study compiles 2025 audits showing that only 8 of 47 teen safety features worked as intended, harmful Reels and Explore content could reach new teen accounts within the first hour.
It also notes Meta’s own 2025 enforcement figure of 135,000 Instagram accounts removed for targeting children, underscoring scale rather than resolution.
The mental health signal is consistent across studies. Prior research shows that reducing social media time leads to significant improvements in body image and related symptoms, while heavier use correlates with anxiety and body dissatisfaction.
Instagram’s visual first design magnifies comparison and idealized aesthetics, which helps explain why the platform’s influence can outweigh wellness campaigns that lack reach or repetition.
A valuable, controversial take from Anatolii Ulitovskyi, founder of UNmiss.com
“If Instagram cannot publish DM and hashtag exposure numbers for body shaming and how fast those posts disappear, regulators should cap teen recommendations until it can. Safer design is not a promise. It is a monthly report card the public can read.”
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