M.G. Mercante1, E.G. Tocco1, R.G. Witt1 1University Of Virginia, Department Of Surgery, Charlottesville, VA, USA
Introduction: The emergence of TikTok as a social media platform has ushered in an era of “medfluencers”, or content creators focused on medical information and advice. While some commend this trend for making medical information more accessible to the general public, others are concerned about its potential to spread misinformation to vulnerable audiences. Reporters of medical information found on social media are often unknown to the public, and the information itself may be unreferenced as well. Social media users, depending on their medical knowledge, may be particularly vulnerable to misinformation and accept videos as factual regardless of their evidence base. In this study, we examine cancer as a representative medical topic to assess the professional backgrounds of content creators offering advice in this field.
Methods: We conducted an analysis of videos on the TikTok platform that provided medical advice on cancer which received over 100,000 likes. Seven popular cancer hashtags were included: #cancersymptoms, #cancercauses, #cancercure, #cancertreatment, #canceradvice, #cancerprevention, and #cancerawareness. We evaluated engagement with the videos and the professional background and licensing status of each content creator, identifying their primary field of practice and training background if they were medical professionals.
Results: This study found 52 videos from distinct content creators that met our inclusion criteria. The average number of likes was 334,233 (ranging from 105,500-2,200,000), the average number of saves was 49,404 (3,853-293,600), and the average number of shares was 30,048 (414-168,100). The mean number of subscribers for the content creators was 495,746.38 (1240-5,300,000). Of these videos, the professional licensing distribution among content creators was as follows: 7 MDs, 1 DO, 1 MRCS MBBS, 3 PhDs, 1 nurse, 1 dietician, and 36 individuals without medical licensing. Additionally, two videos were produced by individuals who referred to themselves as “Dr.” but did not hold an official degree. Six of the non-medical content creators dedicate their channels to giving medical advice. Of the MDs creating oncology content, none were formally trained in the field of oncology.
Conclusion: With TikTok increasingly being used for information on a wide range of topics, including medical advice, the accuracy of this information is more critical than ever. Our research reveals that most oncology content is created either by individuals without medical training or by medical professionals without formal oncology training. This underscores the need for ongoing discussions about the role that social media platforms should play in the medical field and who is qualified to give medical advice on public platforms.