Teens are trying unregulated 'legal steroids' that influencers are promoting on TikTok — and it comes with serious risk

• TikTok has become a key promotion tool for steroid-like drugs, a new report found.
• Products known as "legal steroids" are sold by unregulated vendors online and they may pose serious risks.

Millions of teenagers and young adults are being introduced to dangerous, steroid-like fitness substances via TikTok, a new report outlines.

The report, from the UK based non-profit Center for Countering Digital Hate, found that influencers on the popular social media app have partnered with online vendors of unregulated and often illicit substances, including selective androgen receptor modulators, often referred to as SARMs. The influencers frequently target a teen or young adult audience by promoting their content with tags like #TeenBodybuilding, per the report.

The researchers noted that the content of some videos encouraged the use of the drugs while downplaying the health risks. They often attract audiences using before-and-after pictures of body transformations or physiques of high-profile bodybuilders who have reportedly used steroids, the report said.

One video included in the report advised viewers to "just tell your parents they're vitamins."

The researchers found that videos with hashtags involving steroid-like substances were viewed 420 million times by people aged 18 to 24 in the past three years.

A caveat, however, is that hashtag related views don't differentiate between positive and negative content, according to a TikTok spokesperson who spoke with Insider — for example, that total could also include videos detailing the risks of steroids or recovery from their use.

At least some of the videos appear to promote chemicals that aren't approved for human use, but can be sold online through a legal loophole.

The drugs can have major side effects including heart attack and psychosis. As a result of the report's findings, the researchers are urging lawmakers to crack down on sales of the substances, and calling for TikTok to increase scrutiny of the content on its platform.

What are 'legal steroids' or SARMs and what are their health risks?

One popular type of product is known as SARMs, short for selective androgen receptor modulators, synthetic drugs marketed for muscle gain and fat loss.

SARMs are sometimes called "legal steroids" because they can be bought and sold in an online gray market — unregulated websites that discretely advertise to consumers. In order to avoid legal scrutiny, the drugs are often sold as "research chemicals." Despite being labeled "not for human consumption," the products are advertised with buzzwords like "muscle building," "fat burning" and "testosterone boosting" that make their use clear to potential consumers.

While SARMs aren't the same as illegal anabolic steroids which are used off-label as performance enhancing drugs, they can also have serious health risks. The FDA has warned of increased risk of heart attack, liver failure, sexual dysfunction, and psychosis. SARMs have been banned from sports by the World Anti-Doping Agency since 2008.

SARMs can be risky even if you're getting what you paid for. However, another concern with the chemicals is that they're unregulated, and so often contaminated, mislabeled, or combined with other illicit substances which aren't disclosed by the manufacturer, a 2018 study found.

The study, published in JAMA, tested products labeled as SARMs and found that only 52 percent contained actual SARMs, and 39 percent contained another unapproved compound. Another 9 percent contained no active compound at all.

TikTok influencers are boosting the reach of online drug vendors to young audiences

The Center for Countering Digital Hate report noted that TikTok influencers have significantly increased the reach of companies selling these unregulated products. The researchers found that influencer partnerships help vendors reach 540 times more viewers than they would have with their own accounts.

The report found influencers on the platform often had lucrative deals with vendor sites, earning up to 30% commission on sales through their links.

Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, urged the tech company to enforce stronger policies cracking down on drug promotion, and called for policymakers to close loopholes that permit the online sale of the substances.

"It is TikTok's job to keep the platform safe, and enforce its community rules, but our research has found that the platform turns a blind eye to the promotion of dangerous and potentially illegal drugs. At the same time, we've found that boys and young men are being bombarded with toxic content that seeks to promote and profit from body dysmorphia," Ahmed said in a press release. "TikTok, vendors and influencers all potentially profit from this content at the expense of young men's self-esteem and health."

While TikTok was the focus of the report from the advocacy group, Insider also found evidence of similar advertisements and promotional material on other social media platforms.

Content selling SARMs, depicting or instructing in their use, or use of any drug by young people, is currently a violation of TikTok's community guidelines and will be removed from the app when detected, according to the spokesperson. For transparency, the company releases quarterly reports detailing the enforcement of its community guidelines.