Lynn Crilly, a counsellor, author, and filmmaker, has been campaigning on the issue for two decades.
She claims that social media firms are failing to remove harmful content from their platforms, despite the UK’s Online Safety Act requiring them to do so.
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Ms Crilly said: “The fact that social media platforms are still flooded with accounts promoting dangerous eating habits shows there is more which needs to be done to tackle harmful online behaviours.”
Her warning comes as NHS data reveals an 11 per cent rise in hospital admissions for eating disorders over the past 12 months.
The NHS dealt with 31,751 cases of conditions such as anorexia and bulimia between April 2023 and April 2024, compared to 28,533 the previous year.
Of these, 6,408 cases involved individuals aged 18 or under.
Ms Crilly said: “These figures are deeply alarming although, sadly, they are not surprising.
“This data shows how, on average, hospitals are dealing with nearly 90 admissions a day.
“It’s an alarming number of people.”
She is calling for urgent government action to support sufferers and their families, stating that more and more cases of young people and adults suffering from eating disorders are not receiving the help and support they need.
Ms Crilly said: “We urgently need to improve the availability of treatment we can offer to people and their loved ones, particularly early on in their diagnosis, otherwise we’re only going to see more and more people going to hospital.”
Despite tech giants taking measures to ban hashtags and search terms, Ms Crilly claims that dozens of accounts on social networking sites, including X, Instagram, and Telegram, continue to extol the so-called virtues of eating disorders.
Some influencers on social media have tens of thousands of followers and flood their timelines with messages about extreme weight loss.
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Ms Crilly said: “We need a complete review and eating disorders awareness week is a great opportunity to look again at how we prioritise these illnesses and make sure we are not failing sufferers and their families as eating disorders destroy the lives of both the sufferers and their loved ones.”
According to the charity BEAT, at least 1.25 million people in the UK are living with an eating disorder.
A 2023 NHS survey revealed that one in eight 17- to 19-year-olds were identified as having some form of eating disorder, with rates four times higher in young women than young men.
