Going Dark: Retouching is An Unethical Business Practice
In Norway, new regulations have made it illegal for social media influencers to share retouched photos of their body, as a way of fighting back against the retouch epidemic that has created a toxic online culture riddled with unhealthy body standards, eating disorders, and gender stereotypes. Advertisements with alterations to a body’s size, shape or skin will need to be marked with a standardised label designed by the ministry in Norway. According to i-D, this includes changes to lips, waistlines, and muscles, as-well as any filters added to photographs or videos. Violations of the law will be fined, with extreme cases potentially facing imprisonment. This was accepted by the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs, that passed the law with 72 to 15 votes in government, a substantial agreement.
These regulations are a long time coming, especially when we consider how normalised it has become to manipulate images online. The reputations of social media platforms like Instagram and Pinterest have changed significantly from being person-led platforms to that of a business, filled with posts embodying the ‘perfect’ beauty ideal. For the average individual, changing your face and body shape and putting on a filter has become the staple process in publishing images online, encouraging unhealthy image standards and a highly competitive social media environment. The fight for who looks the best, owns the most and has the better body accumulates to form an ideal lifestyle which is very removed from reality. Those who appear to ‘live’ a certain way receive more likes, comments and engagement, turning influencers into analytical machines that manipulate their audiences. For many of us, this isn’t a new problem, so why has Norway changed their laws now?
Nowadays, social media influencers are being used more than ever in the public eye. Pseudo-celebrities, businesses are finding that they are generating more impact than their actual celebrity colleagues, and are much more accessible when it comes to marketing and collaborations. It is clear that there has been a dramatic influx of influencer cameos in advertisements online, all of them promoting false ideals around a ‘better’ lifestyle. This usually comes at the expense of major manipulations to their face and body, looking more and more fake per advert. TikTok stars are virtually everywhere, be it music videos, advertisements on YouTube, sponsored posts on Facebook, or on littered Pinterest boards, all of them having undergone some form of digital manipulation in order to look their best.
Hopefully, Norway’s move will pave the way for governmental intervention in other countries when it comes to digital manipulations as well. People cannot be trusted where profit is concerned, especially when the product or service promotes perfect - and unattainable - ideals. Norway’s measure will provide more clarity to those who view images every day on platforms like Instagram, enabling digital intelligence and encouraging those on social media to be more critical of their influencers. A prime example are the Kardashians, who are notorious for their facetuning ( Khloe can at times look like a completely different person online) Likewise, the internet personality Tana Mongeau constantly changes her body to look more curvaceous. With a following of impressionable teenagers and children, it’s dangerous for these figures to be pushing a narrative this self-destructive at such a young age, as it risks encouraging eating disorders, depression, body dysmorphia, and at worst, self-harm.
Khloe Kardashian via Insider, commenting on the differences between her social media images and footage taken on Keeping Up With The Kardashians
Tana Mongeau, caught in a Photoshop edit by fans at a red carpet
There are some dilemmas remaining, mainly surrounding how the Norwegian government are going to be able to locate manipulated images and enforce repercussions effectively, but further discussions are in progress. Hopefully, with this law being a stepping stone for people to hold social media influencers accountable elsewhere, we will see more people speak out against the outrageous beauty standards pushed by influencers and celebrities. With the terrain of social media changing rapidly, we need more legislation in place as its commercial uses grow.