Is it time for social media to get real?
Apps that encourage unfiltered pictures and more realistic posts are growing in popularity – so is the tide turning when it comes to what we view online? Elizabeth Archer finds out
Carefully curated shots of beautiful surroundings or model-perfect selfies taken from a flattering angle are what we’ve come to expect from social media. Images are tweaked and polished until they bear little resemblance to the original. But a growing online movement is on a mission to change this.
Dubbed the “anti-Instagram app”, social media platform BeReal has surged in popularity with more than 53 million downloads. Unlike other apps, which allow people to pose for hours before editing and filtering images, BeReal gives users a two-minute window each day to take and post a picture. The aim is for it to be a snapshot of their real lives.
Sasha Pallari, creator of the #FilterDrop campaign, which encourages people to post natural photos, is heartened by the trend.
Sasha, a trained make-up artist, started the #FilterDrop campaign in 2020 on her Instagram page @sashapallari. After years of filtering pictures to make her skin look smoother and her face look more symmetrical, she realised she had started to hate the way her natural skin looked in the mirror.
“I’d become addicted to filters on Snapchat and Instagram, which made my skin look smooth and perfect,” says 30-year-old Sasha, who lives in Somerset with her husband David, 37, an accountant. “Whenever I looked in the mirror, or a friend took a natural photograph of me, I was disheartened.”
#FilterDrop went viral, with people sharing their own, true photos, and Sasha went from having 3,000 followers to 50,000.
“I realised how many people felt affected by seeing filtered images all the time. They said they couldn’t take pics without filters as they didn’t like the way they looked.”
Later in 2020, she raised a complaint with the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) about a heavily filtered image used to advertise a skincare product.
In a ruling in February 2021, the ASA advised that make-up and skincare products should not be promoted using filtered images on social media, if the filter is “likely to exaggerate the effect the product is capable of achieving”.
“Since then, I’ve noticed a huge difference in what I see online,” she says.
Now, Sasha is known for posting photos of her unfiltered skin, including spots, scars and pores and stretch marks.
“Growing up, I always felt self-conscious about my skin, and my body. If you’d told me then I’d have the confidence to post these unfiltered pictures, I’d never have believed you. But my followers are very supportive, and it feels like we’re growing in confidence together.”
Suzanne Samaka also welcomes the trend.
In April 2021, she started the #HonestyAboutEditing campaign, calling for all digitally altered images to be labelled online – much like influencers must now disclose in their posts when they have been paid to feature a product.
In France, all commercial photographs that have been edited to make people appear slimmer or more curvy must be labelled as having been retouched.
Suzanne would like to see similar legislation in the UK. She is currently backed by two MPs – Dean Russell, and Dr Luke Evans.
The latter, a former GP, introduced Suzanne’s suggestion as a bill in Parliament. The Digitally Altered Body Images bill is waiting for a second reading in Parliament, and Suzanne is hopeful it will pass.
She started the campaign after a teenage family member was diagnosed with anorexia in 2017, and she saw first-hand how mental health can be affected by social media – particularly young people.
“I’m not against digital editing but I’m against the lack of transparency. Young people think what they see is reality and then they compare that to how they look,” says Suzanne, 34, who works in finance and lives in Watford with Steve, 54, a banker, and their children four-year-old Enya and one-year-old Betsy.
“I hope having to label retouched images would discourage people from doing it. Then the trend would snowball and gradually we move away from unrealistic standards of beauty.” Sasha agrees.
“That is why I post unfiltered pictures online, even on days when I don’t feel good about myself. After all, self-confidence is contagious.” ■■Visit change.org/changesocial medialaws to sign the #■HonestyAboutEditing petition.
‘‘ When I looked in a mirror or a friend took a natural photo, I was disheartened