Plain Jane To Bold Glamor: TikTok Filter Takes Over Social Media, But Not For All The Good Reasons

A filter on ByteDance-owned video-sharing app TikTok is going viral on social media, but not without some heavy criticism. 

What Happened: The “Bold Glamor” filter basically transforms users’ plain, natural faces into glamorous ones — and while it may seem like any filter online designed to zhuzh up users’ looks, it’s receiving flak for messing with teenage girls’ “mental health.”

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The Bold Glamor filter sharpens users’ chin, airbrushes their skin, fills in eyebrows and brightens cheeks — creating a natural but not-so-natural impression of how someone would look with picture-perfect makeup. 

Netizens are calling out the filter on social media, saying it makes them feel they need to obtain “a certain standard of beauty.” Others say the filter increases the “chances of getting catfished” on Tinder, a popular online dating app. 

imagine all the teenage girls who will start using the scarily good "bold glamour" filter on tiktok and feel like they need to obtain this certain standard of beauty.

this filter is not good for mental health. pic.twitter.com/Za2GmJEVno

— Caitlin Ner (@caitlinner) February 27, 2023

my tiktok fyp is just endless reaction videos of people using the bold glamour AR effect

chances of getting catfished on tinder just went up 300000%

— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) February 27, 2023

This viral "bold glamour filter" is too much..even more insane that it's so seamless! I mean this is why people aren't satisfied with the way they look. Come on social media, let's do better. No way does this look like me in real life 😂 Have you tried this craze?! pic.twitter.com/cTTYYlcFwk

— Vanessa Wojtusiak (@VanessaW) February 28, 2023

I don't wanna be known as the tiktok filter guy, but ICYMI after attacking GenX w teenage filter, tiktok just dropped a new filter to take out Millennials & GenZ. "Beauty filters" are not new, but the precision on this is beyond uncanny. This is psychological warfare & pure evil. pic.twitter.com/2G2FeMfrTC

— memo akten (@memotv) February 26, 2023

In a nutshell, netizens don’t seem to approve of a world where having an airbrushed face is perceived as perfection and anything less than that is just plain and not appealing. 

Why It’s Important: At first look, it appears that the Bold Glamor filter is based on AI-powered tools making the face transformations harder to detect. TikTok rolled out a new set of AI filter tools last month, but the company has not clarified whether AI is also behind the popularity of Bold Glamor, reported The Verge.  

Earlier this week, TikTok announced that it will now automatically limit the screen time for users under 18 to 60 minutes to mitigate the addictive nature of the app and to address concerns about its impact on minors. 

However, this social media app would need to pay attention to a few more concerns. 

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