The Tamesis
Sandra Matz, an assistant professor at Columbia Business School, questioned whether the courts would be enough to get social media companies to change their ways, but said high-profile cases could lead to regulatory changes. “Oftentimes, it’s not really through litigation but through policymakers feeling public pressure,” she told us Fashion. “For example, when your video stops and the next video is already queued, autoplay may be considered illegal.”
Rethink influencer marketing strategy
Growing scrutiny of how social media platforms harm mental health, and potential changes to algorithms, could reshape the way brands approach influencer marketing.
Influencer culture is known to play a significant role in how social media use affects mental health: a 2025 study found that 67% of teens surveyed felt unsafe after viewing influencer content. Meanwhile, brands have been steadily increasing their influencer marketing spend over the past few years.
Influencer marketing platform Creator IQ recently found that two-thirds of brands have been funding this growth by cutting their paid media budgets. But experts say brands’ less control over influencers’ output could lead them to abandon collaborations with certain celebrities.
First, greater awareness of the potential harms of social media will push brands further away from influencers perceived to be part of the problem. Melika Hashemi, digital marketing director at WPP, said this included “anyone who promotes things like body image standards that create anxiety because people compare themselves to others”.
“More awareness of this would create a way to weed out the good influencers from the bad ones and open the door for the good influencers to stand out,” she added.
Brands may also start entering into more stringent contracts with influencers to minimize the risk of pursuing engagement at all costs. “The way a lot of brand deals work is that creators will be given brand guidelines on how to express and present the content. It’s the creator’s responsibility to make sure the content works. So they’ll do something that’s attractive, and a lot of times that’s controversial,” Laca said. “Brands will want to step up this because no one wants to be sued.”
Matz hopes that encouraging less controversial influencer content could mitigate such risks if platforms are forced to redesign their algorithms to optimize less for emotional engagement. “Now, [users are] “People will be incentivized to take advantage of these algorithms and come up with something more extreme and emotional,” she said. “That may mean influencers may change the style of language they use.”
Quality over quantity
Racca added that stricter age restrictions could create additional responsibilities for brands to ensure content labeled “kid-safe” is not harmful. This may mean being more cautious about categories that may be associated with mental health issues such as body dysmorphia.
