Known as a “chubby filter”, the artificial intelligence (AI) tool took a photo of a person and edited their appearance to look as though they had put on weight.

Many people have shared their “before and after” images on the platform with jokes about how different they looked – however, others said it was a form of “body shaming” and should not be permitted.

Experts have also warned the filter could fuel a “toxic diet culture” online and potentially contribute to eating disorders.

TikTok said the filter had been uploaded by a CapCut, which is separate to TikTok but has the same parent company, ByteDance.

TikTok also told the BBC it was reviewing videos uploaded to the app that used the effect, and was making them ineligible for recommendation and blocking them from teen accounts.

It added any videos that breached its community guidelines – for example by featuring bullying or harassment – would be removed.

Sadie, who has 66,000 followers on TikTok, had been one of those calling for the “mean” filter to be banned.

“It felt like girls being like, ‘oh, I’ve won because I’m skinny and wouldn’t it be the worst thing ever to be fat’,” the 29-year-old from Bristol said.

She said she was contacted by women who said they had deleted TikTok from their phones because the trend made them feel bad about themselves.

“I just don’t feel like people should be ridiculed for their body just for opening an app,” she said in comments made before the tool was pulled.

Dr Emma Beckett, a food and nutrition scientist, told the BBC she felt the trend was “a huge step backwards” in terms weight stigma.

“It’s just the same old false stereotypes and tropes about people in larger bodies being lazy and flawed, and something to be desperately avoided,” she said.

She warned that could have a broad social effect.

“The fear of weight gain contributes to eating disorders and body dissatisfaction, it fuels toxic diet culture, making people obsess over food and exercise in unhealthy ways and opening them up to scam products and fad diets.”

Prior to the app being pulled, the BBC spoke to a number of TikTok users who said they were uncomfortable with the filter.

Nina, who lives in north Wales, said she felt it fed into a “narrative” being spread online tying together people’s appearance with their self-worth.

“This is a toxic view that I thought we were moving away from,” she said.

“If a filter is clearly offensive it should be removed,” she told the BBC.

Emma, who lives in Ayr, agreed.

“My first thought when I saw the ‘chubby filter’ was how damaging that would be.

“People were basically saying they looked disgusting because they were ‘chubby’ and as a curvier woman, who essentially looks like the “after” photo on this filter, it was disheartening for me.”

The social media platform’s boss Adam Mosseri told staff about the potential move this week, according to technology industry–focused business publication The Information, which cited a person who heard the remarks.

Instagram’s parent company Meta did not immediately respond to a BBC request for comment.

In January, US President Donald Trump granted TikTok a 75-day extension to comply with a law signed by then-President Joe Biden that requires a sale or ban of the platform.

At the time, he floated the possibility of a joint venture running the company, saying he was seeking a 50-50 partnership between “the United States” and its Chinese owner ByteDance. But he did not give any further details on how that might work.

The Biden administration had argued that TikTok, which has 170 million US users, could be used by China as a tool for spying and political manipulation.

Opponents of a ban have cited freedom of speech as a reason for keeping the platform open.

In 2018, Meta launched a standalone app called Lasso to compete with TikTok but it was later shut down.

Leila Nikea is a beauty content creator from Derby. She left her job as a make-up artist three years ago to focus solely on TikTok. The platform has become her main source of income – in fact, her earnings have tripled since joining the app.

“It was difficult making that initial jump to quit… but it’s the best thing I ever did,” she says.

“If it wasn’t for TikTok, I wouldn’t be here now. TikTok really enabled me to be seen, I’ve had so many opportunities.

“I’ve been able to purchase my house, something I didn’t think I would ever be able to do on the wage I was on before. It’s really opened doors for me financially, I feel a lot more secure.”

But uncertainty around its future is making her nervous.

The platform faced a ban in the US last month over national security concerns. The ban came into effect briefly before the decision was postponed and services were restored.

However, its future remains in doubt, with the app continuing to face scrutiny from lawmakers.

“I’ve put so much effort into TikTok, I’ve put my heart and soul into it,” she says.

“The amount of work that creators put into their videos behind the scenes, isn’t spoken about enough.

“To think that the app could just be taken away, after all of that hard work, is disheartening.

“It makes me panic about income and whether people will want to work with me on other platforms. It’s nerve-racking.”

For Leila and other creators, the situation is a reminder of how fragile their digital careers can be.

Howard and George, known as The Whiskey Brothers, have also seen TikTok transform their lives.

The musicians, from Belper in Derbyshire, spent 17 years performing as a wedding band before joining TikTok to push their original music.

“We’ve always really struggled to get our music out there, we’ve tried so many ways,” Howard says. “But now we’ve grown a following on TikTok, people are actually listening to our original music and we’ve actually got our first gig as The Whiskey Brothers coming up in March.”

Any bans or changes to the platform, they fear, could set them back dramatically.

“The idea of it getting banned in America was a wake-up call,” George admits. “It brings into question the plans we’ve got for the future, and whether making money doing what we love on TikTok is going to be possible, forever.

“You’re very aware that you could be shut down at any minute and how vulnerable you are.”

Safwan Ahmedmia, better known as SuperSaf, is one of the UK’s top tech influencers, with more than two million followers across TikTok and YouTube.

He has already lived through a TikTok ban when India blocked the app in 2020.

“Anything that happens internationally directly affects content creators in the UK,” he says. “When TikTok was banned in India it had a huge impact, I lost thousands of followers.”

Now, the Leicester-based influencer makes sure to post on multiple platforms.

“Social media is a very volatile environment, it’s not completely secure like a 9-5 job,” he says. “The way I’ve dealt with it over time is to diversify – and this is the advice I give to other content creators, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.”

TikTok’s fate in the US remains uncertain as political debates around data privacy and national security continue. Bans are already in place in India, and restrictions are growing in other countries.

Leila, Howard, George and Safwan all agree that the platform’s unpredictability highlights the need for creators to adapt – but that does not make the uncertainty any easier.

Leila says: “At the end of the day, I will never give up my passion just because of a platform – wherever people want to see me, I’ll be there.”

“I make more in an hour going live, than a day spent in the shop,” she said.

A boom in online sales prompted Ms Mallows’ decision to close her flagship beauty store in Cardiff, instead selling her company’s body scrubs and skincare through TikTok’s live shopping stream.

But since the popularity of her products surged and hit the shelves in Superdrug and Boots, she is now pursuing her “dream” of opening a real-world shop once more.

Selling on TikTok requires a good product and a personality that attracts buyers to watch live as orders are packed on camera.

The social media platform, which plays host to more than 6,000 live shopping sessions every day, fulfills orders on behalf of sellers.

Anyone using the platform can access training and guides to help them join some of the 200,000 small and medium-sized businesses who are already there.

A small room, decorated for a TikTok audience, allows the team behind Mallows Beauty to sell products directly from their office in Llantrisant, south Wales.

“The progress has been wild,” said Ms Mallows.

It’s a process that also attracts instant feedback.

“People will definitely tell me if they think we’re doing something right or doing something wrong.

“And I think the big deal for me is that we’re just in this little office in Wales, and you don’t realise the impact.

“I’ll post videos thinking I’m just posting videos to my friends, and I don’t really think about it – not until you get recognized in New York, and people come up to you and ask for your selfies.

But despite so many people turning to this new way of buying, the UK’s high streets showed a surprising surge in shoppers last month.

Footfall increased by 6.6% in January compared to the same month in 2024, according to the British Retail Consortium.

It poses a dilemma for sellers like Ms Mallows, 33, who thrive online but also want a slice of real-world shoppers.

Ms Mallows is now once again focussed on opening her own shop.

While her business has boomed on TikTok, the platform has strict rules which prevent sellers from pointing to other platforms and some products are restricted.

Sellers say some words are banned and alluding to a personal website can lead to accounts being suspended.

The ambition to straddle both social media sales and the high street is being watched closely by the British Retail Consortium.

Its Welsh spokesperson, Sara Jones, said 2025 would be the year of “smart shopping” by consumers.

“We’re going to see both clicks and bricks,” she said, with “digital, online and in-store shopping experiences” being offered to shoppers.

“Those retailers that are going to do really well this year are going to be the ones that harness digital technology to encourage people back both to the high street, but alongside their online offering.”

Others are turning to platforms like TikTok shop to sell direct to customers after growth slowed through their existing online and high street outlets.

“It has doubled our sales,” said Shoned Owen, whose fake tan products Tanya Whitebits proved popular since she started selling them live online.

“I think people are craving live content. I attended a workshop in 2024 and it was predicted that live content was going to explode on TikTok during 2025.

“I thought, I’ve got to jump on this trend.”

As well as doubling her sales over the course of the year, Ms Owen said she had to “familiarise” herself with the rules of selling on TikTok.

There are “certain keywords you can’t use, you can’t direct them to your website or other sales channels”, she said, and “you can’t vape, you can’t smoke, there’s no nudity on TikTok”.

Ms Owen still sells through high street shops, and wants to recruit staff to help promote her online sales.

“My long term plan is that I’m looking at recruiting staff,” she said.

“Hopefully there will be employment opportunities for local people, because obviously they’ll have to be local to work in in the TikTok shop – and to do a live.”

TikTok said its live shopping was “like an extension of the brilliance of brick and mortar stores”.

“Through live shopping and shoppable content, TikTok shop allows their products to be discovered by millions and for them to create communities based on human connection in a way that no other online platform can,” said the head of TikTok Shop, Jan Wilk.

He said the platform had a “positive impact on the high street at large” as a “halo effect” often touched businesses who found that products trending on TikTok then became popular in high street stores.

The popular app, which is used by more than 170 million American users, went dark briefly last month in the US as the ban deadline approached.

Trump then signed an executive order granting TikTok a 75-day extension to comply with a law banning the app if it is not sold.

TikTok did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BBC News.

According to Bloomberg, which first reported TikTok’s return to app stores in the US, the decision to resume its availability came after Apple and Google received assurances from the Trump administration that they would not be held liable for allowing downloads, and the ban wouldn’t be enforced yet.

The ban, which passed with a bipartisan vote in Congress, was signed into law by former President Joe Biden. It ordered TikTok’s Chinese owner ByteDance to sell the US version of the platform to a neutral party to avert an outright ban.

The Biden administration had argued that TikTok could be used by China as a tool for spying and political manipulation.

China and TikTok have repeatedly denied those accusations. Beijing has also previously rejected calls for a sale of TikTok’s US operations.

The law banning the app was supported by US lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and it was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court.

Trump himself had supported banning the app during his first term in office but he appeared to have a change of heart last year during the presidential race.

He professed a “warm spot” for the app, touting the billions of views he says his videos attracted on the platform during last year’s presidential campaign.

When the app started working again in the US last month, a popup message was sent to its millions of users that thanked Trump by name.

TikTok chief executive Shou Chew met with Trump in Mar-a-Lago after his electoral victory in November and later attended his inauguration ceremony.

Trump has said he wants to find a compromise with the Chinese company that complies with the spirit rather than the letter of law, even floating an idea of TikTok being jointly owned.

“What I’m thinking of saying to someone is buy it and give half to the US, half, and we’ll give you a permit,” he said recently during a news conference about artificial intelligence.

And he also said he would be open to selling the app to Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, as well as billionaire Elon Musk, who leads the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Previous names linked with buying TikTok include billionaire Frank McCourt and Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary – a celebrity investor on Shark Tank, the US version of Dragon’s Den.

The biggest YouTuber in the world Jimmy Donaldson – AKA MrBeast – has also claimed he is in the running after a number of investors contacted him after he posted on social media that he was interested.

An executive order from President Donald Trump means the social media platform can be used in the US despite the Supreme Court upholding a law which will see it sold or banned.

Even so, Apple and Google are preventing new downloads of the app meaning people are increasingly turning to a technique called “sideloading” if they want to get it for the first time or reload it to a new device.

It involves users turning to third-party sites, which are sometimes referred to as black markets, rather than official retailers to get hold of software.

One such company, Signulous, says 120,000 people have used its services to get TikTok onto iPhones.

Neil Pomperleau, from the firm, shared screenshots from his dashboard that showed more than 2,000 downloads per hour at times.

“One of the most popular apps in the world can only be sideloaded in the US so it’s been a good thing for us with record traffic to our site and a spike in customers”, he told the BBC.

People in the US are also turning to virtual private networks (VPNs), which allow users to pretend they are in a different country – so TikTok fans can make it appear they are in Canada, for example, where the ban does not apply.

Search engine queries for “VPN” hit an all-time high last month, according to Google data.

Dozens of YouTube guides about the method have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times in the last three weeks.

Experts say the trends show how difficult a ban would be to enforce, if one is introduced when a final decision on TikTok – due by April – is made.

Currently it is not illegal to download TikTok and although US lawmakers ruled that distributing it is against the law, both President Trump and his predecessor, Joe Biden, indicated they would not not enforce it.

Unofficial app shops like Mr Pomperleau’s operate in a legal grey area by signing up customers to software developer accounts.

The firms often charge a fee to take customers through the technical process of sideloading – something which comes with an increased risk of downloading faulty or malicious software due to the stores being less well-resourced than official app stores.

Mr Pomerleau – whose firm charges people a $20 annual fee – admits he is operating in risky territory.

“The law on the books is that TikTok is not allowed to be distributed in the US but we’re sort of operating on this pinky swear from two different US presidents that they won’t enforce this law.”

“I imagine Google and Apple are a little too risk-averse for their size and the whole situation’s really unpredictable,” he says.

TikTok itself appears to trust the President’s promise too.

On Monday it released a download kit to make it easier for Android users to sideload the app onto devices. Sideloading on Android phones is more common than on iPhones.

Another iPhone sideloading company called AppDB has had nearly 95,000 TikTok downloads and seen its membership double since the ban according to screen shots shared with the BBC.

“People will always find a way to get what they want,” says Aleksei Borodin from AppDB.

One US user who downloaded TikTok through the sideloading process, Dewayne Puckett, said it was “an experience, but the app works like normal”.

Apple argues that sideloading apps is a security risk and has long insisted apps need to be vetted and verified through the official App Store.

The company charges an average 30% commission to apps using its store, which it says is for the protection of consumers.

Although the fee is controversial, it is true that generally Apple is more successful at keeping malicious apps out than other marketplaces like Google’s Play Store.

Since March last year Apple has been forced to allow competition app shops onto the iPhone in the EU after new laws were passed to encourage more choice.

By day, Roland Berry, 73, from Cheltenham, works as a heavy goods driver, but he has spent decades pursing his passion of creating works of art from glass.

Having learned the art form in his mid-20s after befriending a glass restorer at Gloucester Cathedral, the father-of-six and grandfather-of-five now wants to encourage others to take it up to save it from “dying out”.

His daughter Cicely, 29, began to upload her father’s work to social media where it has proved a big hit, with millions of people now having seen the videos.

In 2022, Mr Berry created a design for his daughter’s wedding which captured the attention of an online blog and led Cicely to start uploading videos to TikTok.

That decision led to Mr Berry receiving commissions from across the world and starting sell-out courses to share his craft.

“Stained glass is a dying art, it’s literally on the endangered list with Heritage Crafts,” he said.

“It’s a bit of a crusade on my part, trying to get people into it and my life’s aim would be to stop it from being an endangered craft.”

Cicely shared a first video to TikTok in early 2023 which received about half-a-million views.

But the most-viewed video to date, posted in December, has more than nine million views and shows Mr Berry welcoming his first student for a private class.

“I called dad and said ‘don’t be alarmed but you might be getting more emails than normal’,” Cicely said.

“It’s really surreal because social media is a bit of a new concept for dad, he doesn’t really use it himself, so to see it go up by like hundreds, thousands of people a minute is really mind-blowing.”

The videos show him setting up his workshop for the day, hosting classes or showing his online audience how he carefully cuts glass on a wooden board.

“I knew nothing about it at first… it’s been life-changing in a very good way,” Mr Berry said.

“It’s close to being totally overwhelming to be honest but the comments I’m getting are lovely and very humbling.”

As a result of Mr Berry’s online fame, he is now receiving global interest in his work.

“I’ve got three commissions on the go at the moment, one is in California, one is in Detroit, one is in Poole,” he said.

“They’re coming in from all over the place.”

But the biggest reward is seeing people, particularly the younger generation, taking an interest in the art form, he said.

“I’m very flattered when someone enrols [in a class].

“I would love to pass it all on, all I’ve learned,” added Mr Berry.

The president signed an executive order on Monday, to kickstart the process, saying the fund would soon be “one of the biggest”.

More than 90 countries have sovereign wealth funds, investing surplus income for the benefit of future generations. However, the US currently runs a budget deficit.

“We’re going to create a lot of wealth for the fund,” Trump told reporters, without clarifying where the money would come from.

When Trump first floated the idea of a sovereign wealth fund during his election campaign, he suggested it could be funded by “tariffs and other intelligent things”.

He has already announced plans to impose tariffs on imports from America’s three biggest trading partners – China, Mexico and Canada.

But on Tuesday the levies on Mexico and Canada were paused for 30 days.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the fund would be set up within the next 12 months and that the plan was to monetise assets currently owned by the US government “for the American people”.

Saudi Arabia and Norway have two of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, supported by the proceeds of fossil fuel sales. They invest in companies and projects around the world.

President Trump has previously said that a US sovereign wealth fund would finance “great national endeavours” including infrastructure projects such as airports, roads as well as medical research.

After signing the executive order for the fund’s creation, he also floated the idea that it could buy up the social media platform TikTok.

The Chinese-owned social media company was briefly taken offline in the US last month, over national security concerns, after the previous administration ordered its owner to sell its US operations or face a ban.

Trump has delayed the ban, promising to find a solution, after TikTok’s US users protested at its shutdown.

“We’re going to be doing something, perhaps with TikTok, and perhaps not,” Trump said. “If we make the right deal, we’ll do it. Otherwise, we won’t… we might put that in the sovereign wealth fund.”

However, the president has also recently said that technology giant Microsoft was in discussions to acquire TikTok and that he would like to see a “bidding war” over the sale of the social media app.

Other big names in tech, including Larry Ellison and Elon Musk, have also been floated as possible buyers.

When asked by reporters whether the US tech giant was preparing a bid, Trump replied: “I would say yes” – before adding that there was “great interest in TikTok” from several companies.

Both Trump and his predecessor Joe Biden have been trying for years to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell its US operations on national security grounds.

It comes as Trump signed an executive order last week to delay a Biden Administration ban on TikTok that briefly took the app offline for its 170m users in the United States.

Despite granting TikTok a 75-day reprieve from the ban, Trump had been the first president to start pressuring ByteDance to sell its app.

In August 2020, ByteDance approached Microsoft as a possible buyer – something which the US company’s chief executive later described as “the strangest thing”.

Later, TikTok chose rival Oracle as a potential partner – although that deal also never happened.

Trump has previously said that he was in discussions with several parties about purchasing TikTok and expects to make a decision on the app’s future within the next 30 days.

A spokesperson for Microsoft said the company had “nothing to share at this time”. The BBC has also reached out to TikTok for comment.

Earlier on Monday, the US president had addressed a gathering of Republican politicians in Florida and spoke about the proposed sale of TikTok.

“We’ll see what happens. We’re going to have a lot of people bidding on it,” he said.

“If we can save all that voice and all the jobs, and China won’t be involved, we don’t want China involved, but we’ll see what happens,” he added.

Previous names linked with buying TikTok include billionaire Frank McCourt and the Canadian businessman Kevin O’Leary – a celebrity investor on Shark Tank, the US version of Dragon’s Den.

The biggest YouTuber in the world Jimmy Donaldson – AKA MrBeast – has also claimed he is in the running after a number of investors contacted him following an earlier tweet signalling his interest.

“I might become you guys’ new CEO! I’m super excited!” Donaldson said from a private jet. He then proceeded to promise $10,000 to five random new followers.

The internet creator’s post has been viewed more than 73 million times since Monday. Donaldson said he could not share details about his bid, but promised: “Just know, it’s gonna be crazy.”

Donaldson is one of multiple suitors who have expressed interest in purchasing TikTok, the wildly popular social media platform that’s become the subject of a fast-moving political drama in the United States.

Last year, then-President Joe Biden signed a law that gave TikTok’s China-based parent company ByteDance until 19 January to sell the platform or face a ban in the United States.

The legislation addressed concerns about TikTok’s links to the Chinese government and worries about the app being a national security risk.

President Donald Trump has floated the possibility of a joint venture.

“I would like the United States to have a 50% ownership position,” he said in a Truth Social post on Sunday. “By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to [stay up].”

Trump has since signed an executive order that allows the app to stay operational for another 75 days.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that China was considering a TikTok sale to Elon Musk, the world’s richest man and a close ally of President Trump, who already owns the social media platform X.

Musk himself wrote on X this week that while he has long been against a TikTok ban, “the current situation where TikTok is allowed to operate in America, but X is not allowed to operate in China is unbalanced. Something needs to change”.

At a news conference Tuesday, Trump was asked by a reporter if he would be open to Musk buying the platform.

“I would be if he wanted to buy it, yes,” the president replied.

“I’d like Larry to buy it, too,” Trump added, referring to Oracle chairman Larry Ellison, a long-time Trump supporter who was on stage with him for a separate announcement.

Oracle is one of TikTok’s main server providers, managing many of the data centres where billions of the platform’s videos are stored.

Last year, Oracle warned that a TikTok ban could hurt its business. The cloud computing giant was also a leading contender to buy the social media platform in 2020, back when Trump was trying to ban it.

Billionaire investor Frank McCourt has also expressed interest in TikTok, and has been doing media interviews about the prospect for several months.

McCourt has said he wants TikTok to run on technology overseen by the Project Liberty Institute, which he founded. He has been critical of data collection practices of social media companies.

Project Liberty is bidding for TikTok without its proprietary algorithm. McCourt told CNBC this week that Project Liberty is “not interested in the algorithm or the Chinese technology” even as he acknowledged that the platform is “worth less” without it.

Ultimately, President Trump is likely to have a major role in selecting a US buyer of TikTok.

“It’s going to be a winner that’s likely to be politically sympathetic to President Donald Trump,” said Anupam Chander, a law professor at Georgetown University.

Prof Chander said the 50-50 joint ownership model does not comport with the law’s requirements, which might prompt Trump to pressure Congress into revising the law.

For now, the platform’s future remains in limbo.

Prof Chander said the Biden administration made an “unforced error” by allowing the law to give the president outsized control over who owns TikTok.

“It was a terrible idea to put the future of a massive information platform into this political maelstrom,” Prof Chander said.