TikTok has announced that it will actively ban all videos from the platform that encourages tanning and sunburn after Australian medical experts raised concerns over the recent TikTok trend, #sunburnchallenge.
Co-medical directors Prof Georgina Long and Prof Richard Scolyer from Melanoma Institute Australia, warned the public at the National Press Club, how content creators on TikTok had been glamorizing sunburns with tagines and hashtags.
Long insisted the company, television stations, and influencers took action to “change the cultural narrative around sunburn and tanning” in Australia, since it faces the highest skin cancer incidence and mortality rate in the world.
TikTok immediately responded by launching a widespread education campaign that will impose a pop-up banner for anti-tanning content and for all searches related to sunburns and tans.
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The campaign intends to target users between the ages of 20 and 39, and will remove all “concerning content” related to “dangerous” tanning activities, especially the trending hashtag, #sunburnchallenge which had 4.8 million views.
The trend was encouraging users to share their most painful and severe sunburns with “awkward tan-lines” and peeling skin for dramatic effect.
TikTok's general manager in Australia and New Zealand has promised that the platform will encourage sun safety and provide information on the dangers of melanoma among young people. Melanoma is known to be the most common and deadliest skin cancer, accounting for 1,000 deaths a year in Australia.
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