Fake Body / #Fakebody

About

Fake Body or #Fakebody is a hashtag and catchphrase used primarily on TikTok and Instagram on videos or photos of women in revealing bathing suits or clothes in an attempt to throw off the platforms' censorship systems and keep the posts from being removed for nudity, allegedly tricking the censorship system into thinking the post is not showing a real person. The hashtag started to become popularized in 2021. It is unconfirmed if it actually works or not.

Origin

It is unclear when exactly people started using #fakebody to try and skirt censorship on TikTok and Instagram. The term "fake body" was first defined on Urban Dictionary^[1] on August 16th, 2021, and again on September 6th, 2021. On September 18th, it was defined by user wanna get drunk n nasty? as, "tiktok editors add this to the captions of their videos, usually including a minor with a cropped top on/bikini, so their videos don't get taken down for 'minor safety' or 'nudity' etc," becoming the top definition with over 270 likes in a year, however, the majority of videos using the tag and phrase do not appear to show minors.

Spread

As of August 25th, 2022, videos using the hashtag "#fakebody" have amassed over 34.1 billion total views on TikTok.^[2] There are over 34,000 posts using the hashtag on Instagram.^[3] In early 2022, some TikTokers began expressing confusion about the hashtag. On January 18th, TikToker^[4] @jordankpaul posted a video asking what it means, garnering over 100,000 views in seven months (shown below, left). On February 3rd, Distractify^[5] published an article about the hashtag. On April 30th, TikToker^[6] @wettmelonsss posted a video explaining the hashtag, claiming it works, garnering over 200,000 views in four months (shown below, right).

On August 15th, TikToker^[7] @the.baldguy posted a video captioned, "Did you know girls could post nudes on tiktok if they used #fakebody," garnering over 3 million views in a week (shown below).

The top videos on TikTok using the hashtag, posted in April and June 2022 respectively, show TikToker^[8] @iamferv twerking and shirtless TikToker^[9] @steff_happy flexing (shown below, left and right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References