Bullying fears over dangerous new ‘fit or s***’ Instagram craze where kids rate each other’s looks – The Sun
A NEW 'fit or s***' Instagram craze where children rate each other's looks has sparked fears of online bullying.
Kids as young as 12 post photos that are marked out of ten on public Insta accounts run by anonymous users.
Sun Online found dozens of Instagram pages with hundreds of followers linked to the disturbing trend.
Instagram said it would look to remove the pages after Sun Online made them aware of the disturbing new trend.
Jemma Swanick, 34, a mum-of-two from the Wirral found one of the pages when she checked her 12-year-old son's phone and saw kids being rated with comments like "chubby and ugly".
She told The Echo newspaper: "I check my son's phone every night but I didn't think of looking on this because I've never heard of it before.
"The thing is, it's open for anyone to see and some of the kids have got school uniforms on in the pictures.
INSTAGRAM BULLIES
"You don't know who could open up that Instagram because they're public accounts.
"I've read some of the comments and there was a picture of a young boy who someone had said was chubby and ugly.
"Some kids don't like speaking you about things like that but that's bullying."
She asked for her son's photo to be removed.
YOU'RE NOT ALONE
EVERY 90 minutes in the UK a life is lost to suicide.
It doesn't discriminate, touching the lives of people in every corner of society – from the homeless and unemployed to builders and doctors, reality stars and footballers.
It's the biggest killer of people under the age of 35, more deadly than cancer and car crashes.
And men are three times more likely to take their own life than women.
Yet it's rarely spoken of, a taboo that threatens to continue its deadly rampage unless we all stop and take notice, now.
That is why The Sun launched the You're Not Alone campaign.
The aim is that by sharing practical advice, raising awareness and breaking down the barriers people face when talking about their mental health, we can all do our bit to help save lives.
Let's all vow to ask for help when we need it, and listen out for others… You're Not Alone.
If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support:
- CALM, www.thecalmzone.net, 0800 585 858
- Heads Together, www.headstogether.org.uk
- Mind, www.mind.org.uk, 0300 123 3393
- Papyrus, www.papyrus-uk.org, 0800 068 41 41
- Samaritans, www.samaritans.org, 116 123
At least one of the pages we found had uploaded photos of young children in sexualised poses.
One account instructs kids to "1: shout us out 2:like our posts 3:send a picture of u if u ask or guess who we are then u are getting blocked".
On another, the account holder expresses concerns for the mental health of a young boy who had sent his photo.
Another page offers to ship (approve) or dip (disapprove) kids' photos.
Some kids' photos were rated zero out of ten or "ugly".
The disturbing trend comes after 14-year-old schoolgirl Molly Russell took her life in 2017 after viewing self harm Instagram posts without her family's knowledge.
Her dad Ian Russell blamed the social media platform for her daughter's death, saying Molly entered a "dark rabbit hole of depressive suicidal content"
In October, Instagram said it would extend its self-harm ban to drawings and cartoons following Molly's suicide.
The app vowed to ban graphic self-harm snaps from its site last February.
Instagram chief Adam Mosseri told BBC News: "It will take time to fully implement…but it's not going to be the last step we take."
A spokesman for young suicide prevention charity Papyrus, told Sun Online it had not been made aware of the new fit or s*** Instagtram trend.
But the spokesman added: "If you are being bullied in any way get in touch with our helpline on 0800 0684141.
"Young people that are worried, or anybody that is worried about a young person."
Responding to the fit or s*** trend, a spokesman for Facebook, which owns Instagram, told Sunonline "One of our biggest priorities is keeping people safe on Instagram and we’ve developed innovative technology and specific tools to help combat bullying on the platform.
"Under our anti-bullying policies, ratings about a person's appearance are not allowed and we will remove violating content when we’re made aware of it.”
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