Introduction: Liberating Fat Bodies and Online Censorship

Online platforms such as Instagram, Twitter/X, etc. have engaged in harmful censorship against users on the basis of body size. This book looks at the testimonies of over a dozen individuals who are involved in either fat liberation or who have knowledge about the unfair user experiences and work conditions many people, particularly women, endure when they navigate social media. This section examines the meanings behind the term “body size activism” and offers specific definitions for the following—body positivity, fat liberation, and body neutrality. It establishes the methodology of the study, as well as gives the reader an overview of who specifically was interviewed and how the researchers found them for the book. This Introduction also discusses the origin of this study and provides definitions for types of censorship—such as “shadow banning”—and theoretical ideas of why anti-fatness happens in these spaces—white supremacy, corporate capitalism, and republican political economy.