Hardly any photo makes it onto Instagram without a filter. However, in addition to many funny ones, there are also beauty filters that influence our idea of “beauty”.
As our cooperation partner at SaferInternet.at reports, filters on Instagram or Snapchat are very diverse: landscape photos can shine in stronger colors through filters. You can put rabbit ears or a cat's muzzle on your face. Or you can present yourself as “more beautiful” using so-called “beauty filters”.
Unfortunately, what is considered beautiful is not so diverse : the face is usually made a little narrower and the skin is smoothed. The eyes are often larger and the nose is narrower. Skin color is also normalized: darker skin colors are usually significantly lightened .
We tried out a few of these popular filters ourselves. The result confirms these ideals of beauty that are set by filters.

also popular on the video platform TikTok The “slim filter” is particularly problematic and at the same time . For a while there was even a #slimchallenge in which young people presented themselves with this filter. Many of the young people told their followers that they found themselves more beautiful with this filter.
Why are beauty filters problematic?
Beauty filters convey an ideal of beauty. The bodies – especially of female children and young people – all look the same or at least quite similar. There are now some influencers who criticize such filters. One of them is Silvi Carlsson . On Instagram, she asked her community about their experiences with beauty filters. Numerous young girls and women responded to her saying that they could no longer stand their natural faces in the mirror.
This shows one of the biggest problems with beauty filters: Hardly anyone looks like they do on Instagram in real life. With so many people using beauty filters, the pressure on each individual to keep up increases. If you only see filtered images, there is a risk that your self-confidence will suffer and you will no longer find yourself beautiful without filters . Filters that make users appear slimmer and turn it into a challenge (#slimchallenge) are also problematic because they can promote diseases such as anorexia.
If many users always use the same or at least similar beauty filters, the diversity and individuality that defines us as humans lost .
Tips for using beauty filters
- Reflect filter usage.
Face filters are not inherently bad. They can help young people in particular to try out and experiment with different identities. This also applies to beauty filters. It is important that your own use, but also the many filtered selfies of other users, are reflected. - Don't use a filter.
It works without it! Consciously post your pictures and videos without filters. Many people are afraid that such photos will no longer get you likes. There is now a fairly large community that presents itself unfiltered. Use appropriate hashtags such as #nofilter or #facepositivity . - Turn off the attention economy.
It doesn't always have to be about getting as many likes as possible. There is now the option to hide “like” information on Instagram. This can help take some of the pressure off of the world of social networks. - Create awareness.
In addition to Silvi Carlsson, there are also other influencers who are against the beauty filter craze. They demand that social networks take responsibility and not allow certain filters in the first place. It's not just influencers who can do this: every single person can address the issue and thus create more awareness of it.
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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )

