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China·Health·Disinformation

China's hidden eating disorder communities thrive online through coded language and subculture

Wednesday, 15 April 2026, 06:06 · 1 min read

On Chinese social media platforms, communities centered on eating disorders (EDs) are flourishing beneath the surface of content moderation, reframing dangerous behaviors as aspirational lifestyles. On Xiaohongshu (a Chinese platform similar to TikTok), users employ coded language — such as emoji substitutions and abbreviations like "ct" for induced vomiting — to share extreme restriction routines, daily calorie logs, and mutual encouragement that celebrates dangerous thinness as evidence of willpower and discipline. The trend is alarming given that more than 21 percent of Chinese teenagers already show signs of eating disorders, with the problem having nearly doubled among young people over the past three decades, and experts point to the intersection of social media exposure, body image pressures, and puberty as key drivers.

Sources
Global VoicesInside China’s hidden eating disorder communities ↗︎
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