Abortion on TikTok Versus YouTube: An Analysis of Abortion Stance and Purpose [ID: 1365895

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Social media platforms are an accessible way for individuals to consume medical information. The topic of abortion is undergoing extensive discussion, and there is increasing need to understand the information available to the public. We aimed to assess whether the social media video platform affected abortion content stance and purpose. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study of abortion content on TikTok and YouTube. We searched the term “abortion” on each platform and reviewed the first 155 videos. Videos were categorized by purpose, abortion stance, and medical misinformation. We calculated descriptive statistics and used χ2 testing to compare between groups. The Albany Medical Center IRB determined this study was exempt. RESULTS: Of 310 videos, 280 were included for analysis with 137 YouTube videos and 143 TikTok videos. YouTube is more likely than TikTok to have anti-abortion content (19.71% versus 7.69%, P=.003) and strongly anti-abortion content (15.33% versus 4.20%, P=.002). YouTube is more likely than TikTok to have content categorized as news (33.58% versus 0.70%, P<.001) and less likely to have personal experience content (14.6% versus 41.26%, P<.001). The platforms were similar in their content containing medical misinformation (10.14% on YouTube versus 5.44% on TikTok, P=.137). CONCLUSION: There are significant differences in abortion content available for public consumption on popular social media video platforms. Understanding these differences can help us recognize content biases outside the clinical setting, facilitate creation of medically accurate and patient friendly content, and spur future work on medical misinformation and changes in social media over time.