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Study Finds Widespread Misinformation in TikTok Sexual Health Videos, With Abortion Content Most Error-Prone

Researchers call for improved sexual health education following an analysis that simulated a teen user’s TikTok experience.

Overview

  • Using a 15-year-old account, investigators reviewed the top 10 English videos under three minutes for 10 sexual and reproductive health keywords, totaling 100 posts.
  • Videos from non-medical creators were inaccurate 21.4% of the time compared with 3.4% for content posted by medical professionals.
  • Abortion-related searches had the highest error rate at 26.7% and were the only terms linked to explicitly unsafe recommendations such as inducing an abortion.
  • Reviewers showed 98% inter-rater reliability, and 58% of sampled videos were posted by healthcare professionals, whose content was more accurate.
  • The results are being presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics 2025 conference in Denver, and TikTok says it removes harmful health misinformation under its Community Guidelines.