What is the viral Princess Peach filter on TikTok and why was it banned?

Alice Sjöberg
Princess Peach in the new Super Mario Bros movie

TikTok recently released a feature that allows users to create filters of their own and add them to the app. As fun as it sounds, some took advantage of this and decided to create some explicit filters and add them to the platform. One of these is the Princess Peach filter.

One of the most common trends on TikTok is people filming themselves while playing around with different filters. so when TikTok announced that users and programmers now could create and upload their own filters to the platform, users were ecstatic.

Unfortunately, people took advantage of this and decide to see if they could get around TikTok’s filter for its content. This led to a Princess Peach filter taking over TikTok, but not because of the reason you might think.

What is the Princess Peach filter?

Just like a lot of other filters on the app, the Peach filter makes users pick between two images of Princess Peach by leaning their heads left or right. Sounds innocent, right? However, people who used the filter soon got shocked when one of the options showing up was an explicit photo of Princess Peach.

Mario Golf Super Rush Princess Peach

When posting videos of themselves using the filter, most users censored the explicit parts for the viewers. However, that didn’t stop thousands of users to see and use the filter before it was removed from the platform by TikTok.

Content creators and users speak out that these filters are inappropriate and, in the first place, shouldn’t have seen the light of day on any social media platforms. Those who have used the filter warned other users about it.

Are there other explicit filters on TikTok?

Yes, there are. Several user-made filters have managed to get past TikTok’s filter even though they include explicit content.

As TikTok’s own guidelines state, nudity is not allowed on the platform in any case. So, while it may just be an ‘image’ of the iconic video game character, it still goes against the platform’s rules. 

Similarly to the Princess Peach filter, other filter was made in the same style but included photos of Mario, Marvel’s Incredible Hulk, Hello Kitty, Sonic the Hedgehog, and even Mr. Clean. Several anime characters also got their own explicit filters.

But even though the filters are gone from the platform, several videos of people using the filters are still on the sight. However, since most creators chose to not reveal the explicit photos and cover them with emojis, the videos do not show anything explicit.

This is not the first time an explicit filter has gone viral on TikTok. Similar to the Princess Peach filter, a Chun-Li filter was also recently removed from the platform after shocking fans with explicit photos of the character popping up.

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About The Author

Alice is an Entertainment Writer at Dexerto, whose expertise include social media, internet culture, and Reality TV. She is a NCTJ qualified journalist that previously worked in local news before moving on to entertainment news with OK! Magazine and a wide variety of other publications. You can contact Alice at alice.sjoberg@dexerto.com