The broad reach and inaccuracy of men’s health information on social media: analysis of TikTok and Instagram

Abstract

Social media (SoMe) offers great potential to expand access to health information, but a significant proportion of users consume its content instead of consulting a physician. We sought to quantify the volume and characterize the accuracy of men’s health-related content on TikTok and Instagram. We searched TikTok and Instagram for the terms: testosterone, erectile dysfunction, male infertility, semen retention, Peyronie’s disease, and vasectomy. The top 10 hashtags for each term were used to estimate the total impressions for each term on each platform, and posts were then characterized by creator type, content type, and accuracy (1 to 5 scale). TikTok had 2,312,407,100 impressions and Instagram had 3,107,300 posts across all topics. Semen retention had the most impressions on TikTok (1,216,074,000) and posts on Instagram (1,077,000). Physicians created only a small portion of total TikTok and Instagram posts (10.3% and 12.9%, respectively). Across all topics, the accuracy of content was poor (2.6 ± 1.7), however, physician posts were more accurate than non-physician posts (mean 4.2 ± 1.2 vs 2.3 ± 1.6, p < 0.001, respectively). Men’s health content is popular on TikTok and Instagram but is not accurate. We recommend that physicians actively engage in SoMe to address misinformation.

Does misinformation impact the perception of patients undergoing sexual health and other urological procedures: A cross sectional study

“…The high prevalence of sexual health misinformation, combined with our ndings on patient perceptions of online health information, is a cause for concern. 3,11,12 We discovered that a signi cant number of patients believe that they should conduct independent research to gather information about their health concerns before their appointment with their physician. However, most patients also expressed their concerns about the widespread pervasiveness of misinformation, consistent with the existing literature on the subject.…”

“…However, most patients also expressed their concerns about the widespread pervasiveness of misinformation, consistent with the existing literature on the subject. 3,11 The main cause for concern is that patients seem to believe they can distinguish between accurate and inaccurate information. Although the majority of patients in our study held this belief, it's widely accepted that patients often struggle to identify misinformation for a number of reasons.…”

“…However, these studies have also discovered a concerning amount of misinformation regarding urologic and sexual health, covering various topics, including prostate cancer, bladder cancer, testicular cancer, delayed ejaculation, undescended testis, testosterone-related concerns, male infertility, erectile dysfunction, and semen retention. 11,[14][15][16][17][18] Despite the abundance of posts and videos related to these topics, misinformation still dominates online content. Studies have consistently revealed the alarming presence of inaccurate information, which could signi cantly harm individuals who may rely on these sources for guidance and advice.…”

“…This presents an excellent opportunity for physicians to create content and offer their patients high-quality, evidence-based information. A recent study by Dubin et al 2022 found that physicians' involvement in online content creation was minimal and comprised ~ 10% of the content, suggesting that they can play a crucial role in improving the dissemination of reliable health information. By creating accurate and engaging online content, physicians can ensure patients access trustworthy health information, ultimately improving health outcomes.…”

Quality of erectile dysfunction information from ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence chatbots

“…Previous studies assessed the quality of medical information on erectile dysfunction (ED) from social media outlets like Tik Tok, YouTube, and Instagram. Despite these studies suggesting that ED information from social media is wide-reaching, actionable, and understandable, the content was of poor quality and had concerningly high amounts of inaccurate information [1,2]. However, less is known about the quality of information presented by commonly used artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots.…”