You might remember puppy dog faces, tattoo faces, and fake freckle photos being popular filters on social media. Though many of these filters we’ve seen over the years were perfectly harmless, one recent filter was creatively cruel. It’s called the “Chubby Filter” and has been making its rounds on CapCut and TikTok, among others. One YouTuber from Ohio got quite a bit of backlash for using it multiple times.
The Ohio-based YouTuber @KyleKrueger, posted a video on YouTube Shorts, with the song ‘Countdown’ by Beyonce. It was captioned “Using the fat filter 10 times.” The video in question shows him applying the filter a total of ten times. His face grows in size, develops a second chin, and gets beet red.
Kyle’s is one of many that have been making rounds, and many have had enough. People have, understandably, pointed out that being overweight isn’t a joke. Many of the influencers who hopped on the trend did so to poke fun at obesity. In a world where body positivity is ever-growing, it just looks lame and juvenile.
Many people in comments across social media echo this sentiment.
“This ‘chubby filter’ on TikTok is by far one of the worst trends I’ve ever seen.”
“The ‘chubby filter’ on TikTok should NOT be trending and the comments people are making when posting to it are so damaging. Makes me so incredibly sad that ‘trends’ like this are still circulating???”
These comments speak the truth and bring light to the fact that individuals are constantly faced with the reality that social media influences them to feel “perfect” all the time, especially concerning their looks. This is also why so many teenagers are faced with body image issues as they travel into adulthood.
Luckily, the trend from the Ohio YouTuber and others came to an end with the influx of backlash that it received and the fact that the Internet came together to prove that a filter like this just doesn’t need to play a role in our society. TikTok reported that CapCut removed the filter entirely so that it can no longer be used.
TikTok has repeatedly mentioned that they do “...not allow showing or promoting disordered eating and dangerous weight loss behaviors”. Somehow, this one was able to skirt by for some time before its permanent removal. It goes to show that how people view one another is sometimes made into an unnecessary joke, and this is a trend that needs to stop.
