Youth health charity Bite Back has exposed how Britain’s biggest big food chains – including top fast food outlets – are using their social media accounts to flood young people’s phones with junk food content – a space still outside the reach of advertising rules.
While the Government championed its new restrictions on junk food advertising, which came into force in January 2026, Britain’s biggest food chains are continuing to exploit loopholes to bombard young people with targeted junk food content.
Companies can no longer buy ads online or on TV before 9pm for less healthy food and drink, but they can still market directly to young people through their own social media accounts and apps, so called “owned media”. This content is entirely unregulated and unrestricted. Today’s report lays bare the vast scale of this approach.
Analysing three months of Instagram and TikTok posts from the top 10 food chains popular with young people, including KFC, McDonald’s, Greggs, Domino’s and Burger King, Bite Back found:
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On average, nearly three quarters (72%) of all food posts featured products high in fat, sugar or salt (HFSS),the kinds of junk food that cannot legally be advertised on TV or online.
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Four in five posts (80%) used tactics specifically designed to appeal to young people, including influencer partnerships, branded merchandise lines, competitions and using Gen Z/Alpha humour and slang. That rate rises to 100% for KFC.
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The top 10 brands collectively command more than 5 million followers across their UK Instagram and TikTok accounts — and that is before accounting for the algorithmic reach that pushes their content far beyond those who already follow them.
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Nearly all of Greggs’ food posts featured junk food: 95% on Instagram and 100% on TikTok.
Bite Back youth activists have told of the impact of this persistent stream of junk food ads.
Sienna, 17, from Wolverhampton said: “It feels like we are being taken advantage of in the fight against junk food, which targets us through trends and hashtags. Social media corporations need to be held accountable, because protecting child health shouldn’t be an option – it should be standard.”
Zainab, 18, from London said: “What’s clear from this research is that Big Food is smart, the fact that these companies are able to use social media to market unhealthy products despite the new online and TV advertising restrictions proves these companies are prioritising their profits over the health of our generation.”
D’Arcy Williams, Bite Back CEO said: “This report punctures any suggestions that big food are passive actors when it comes to our food system and children’s health. Politicians rightly celebrated progress on advertising restrictions earlier this year, but too little done too late means that brands continue to expose young people to unhealthy food and drink marketing on their phones, following them everywhere they go. This isn’t accidental; industry tactics are deliberately targeting young people in spaces that aren’t properly regulated.
Young people themselves are leading the fight back. They are calling out big food and demanding the government take action to protect their health by closing the loopholes in junk food advertising restrictions, implementing the Healthy Food Standard, and putting an end to the constant exposure to junk food marketing in unregulated spaces.”
Bite Back’s research also reveals the government missed an opportunity to end this harmful practice. Posts on brands’ own social media accounts were originally proposed to be covered by the Government’s advertising ban in its 2020 consultation, but were later dropped following intense industry lobbying. The result is a glaring loophole that big food companies are happily exploiting.
The report goes on to show that these brands already have the technical tools to restrict their content from younger audiences but overwhelmingly choose not to use them. McDonald’s was the only brand to restrict access to its Instagram account for users registered as under-16. No accounts or posts on TikTok were restricted by any brand.
Other countries are moving to clamp down on predatory digital marketing to children. Italy has taken cosmetic companies to court over targeted online advertising aimed at minors. In the US, social media giants Meta and Google were found liable in a landmark 2026 jury trial over the design of platforms that hooked young users. The UK’s rules are falling further and further behind.