Over the past few months, the popularity of filters that mimic the results of plastic surgery – including botched Jocelyn Wildenstein-style surgery – has soared. Teresa Fogolari’s face filter “Plastica”, for example, a quick-fix way of morphing your face into Amanda Lepore, amassed over 170 million uses in less than a month.
However, as the popularity of these filters has risen so have concerns over their impact on the physical and mental health of young people. A filter titled “Fix Me” which mimicked the marks made by surgeons pre-surgery was deleted after backlash.
Now, the company behind Instagram's AR face filters, Spark AR, has said in a statement that it will be removing all effects associated with plastic surgery from the Instagram Effect Gallery and postpone approval of new effects associated with plastic surgery until further notice.
Announcing the news on Facebook, Spark AR wrote that it wants its effects “to be a positive experience” and were, therefore, re-evaluating existing policies as they relate to well-being.
Last month, Instagram implemented new rules surrounding posts that are seen to promote plastic surgery as well as diet and detox products in a bid to assuage the negative impact of social media on the physical and mental health of young people.
