Jameela Jamil on Instagram’s New Diet Policy: “Extraordinary Win”

Actor-model Jameela Jamil has been an active crusader for body positivity and inclusivity. The founder of ‘I Weigh’ community, in an interview with Elle UK, has now expressed relief and happiness at Instagram’s new policies for diet products. In her words, “I’ve been working with Instagram all year towards this, who were amazing to deal with, and they expressed that they passionately care about creating a safer space for us all online.”

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THIS IS HUGE NEWS. @i_weigh are changing the world together. After a bunch of shouting, screaming, and petitioning... we have managed to get the attention of the people at the top, and they have heard us and want to protect us. And this is just the beginning of our efforts. As of now, if you’re under 18, you will no longer be exposed to any diet/detox products, and for all other ages; all fad products that have bogus, unrealistic claims will be taken down and easy to report. I’ve been working with Instagram all year towards this, who were amazing to deal with, and they expressed that they passionately care about creating a safer space for us all online. This happened so much faster than I expected and I’m so proud and happy and relieved. WELL DONE to the many people who have been working towards this huge change. This is a mass effort. This is an extraordinary win that is going to make a big difference. Influencers have to be more responsible. ❤️

A post shared by Jameela Jamil (@jameelajamilofficial) on Sep 18, 2019 at 10:08am PDT

The Guardian reported that Instagram’s new policies enforce tighter restrictions on posts related to certain diet products and cosmetic surgeries. This would be done by following a strict age barrier and even removing some posts.

It said, “Instagram said under its new rules, posts that promote the use of certain weight-loss products or cosmetic procedures, which have an incentive to buy or include a price, will be hidden from users known to be under 18.”

To Jamil, this announcement came as a major breakthrough. In the interview, she said, “It sets the tone that this is not okay in our society.”

“We have hyper-normalised flogging nonsense to young impressionable people. These people are selling hair growth gummies, but wearing extensions or photoshopping themselves to look slimmer and selling a weight loss shake. There are so many lies being told and we’ve accepted that as a cultural norm.”

Jameela Jamil

“For huge corporations - who are the main access points for these companies to sell their products to young people over the internet - to say they don’t condone this sends out a huge ripple across the earth. It says that if giant corporations are willing to take a stand against this then it must be really serious.”

‘The issue is at its peak because, in my day, you’d have to search for ages to find this toxic information, but now it finds you because of algorithms that know your age, sex and what you’re into. Therefore it’s the worst it’s ever been. Teenage suicides, eating disorder rates, the amount having cosmetic surgery and committing self-harm - they are all at the highest they’ve ever been. There’s no way this isn’t a correlation with what they’re being exposed to online.”

Jameela Jalil

The actor has also openly been critical of celebrities and popular personalities for promoting unscientific diet and weight-loss claims.