EDTok: A Dataset for Eating Disorder Content on TikTok

TL;DR

This paper introduces a comprehensive dataset of over 43,000 TikTok videos related to eating disorders, aiming to facilitate research on content spread, moderation, and mental health impacts during the pandemic.

Contribution

The creation and release of a large, annotated TikTok dataset focused on eating disorder content, filling a critical gap for digital health and social media research.

Findings

Dataset covers videos from Jan 2019 to June 2024

Enables analysis of content dissemination and moderation strategies

Supports studying pandemic-related trends in eating disorder content

Abstract

Eating disorders, which include anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with increased diagnoses linked to heightened exposure to idealized body images online. TikTok, a platform with over a billion predominantly adolescent users, has become a key space where eating disorder content is shared, raising concerns about its impact on vulnerable populations. In response, we present a curated dataset of 43,040 TikTok videos, collected using keywords and hashtags related to eating disorders. Spanning from January 2019 to June 2024, this dataset, offers a comprehensive view of eating disorder-related content on TikTok. Our dataset has the potential to address significant research gaps, enabling analysis of content spread and moderation, user engagement, and the pandemic's influence on eating disorder trends. This work aims to inform strategies for mitigating risks associated with harmful content, contributing valuable insights to the study of digital health and social media's role in shaping mental health.