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TikTok For Sex Advice? Check The Source, Study Suggests
- September 29, 2025
- Dennis Thompson HealthDay Reporter
Teenagers and young adults turning to TikTok for sexual health advice would do well to make sure videos are produced by qualified health professionals, a new study says.
More than 20% of sexual health-related TikToks created by non-medical influencers contained inaccurate info, researchers reported Sunday at the American Academy of Pediatrics’ annual meeting in Denver.
By comparison, 3% of videos produced by medical professionals contained inaccuracies, researchers found.
The types of information included dangerous advice on topics like inducing an abortion, researchers said.
In fact, more than a quarter (27%) of videos with abortion-related search terms contained inaccuracies, results showed.
“With major variation in school-based health classes, young people often turn to online platforms like TikTok for answers,” researcher Angeli Sirilan, a medical student at the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Phoenix, said in a news release.
“This highlights the urgent need for educators, parents and public health leaders to improve both sexual and reproductive health education and social media literacy,” Sirilan said.
For the study, Sirilan’s team created a TikTok account representing a 15-year-old, and examined the top 10 videos that appeared under 10 keywords related to sexual and reproductive health.
Of the videos that showed up, about 58% were created by health care professionals, researchers said.
Two reviewers independently examined the videos and classified them as accurate or inaccurate.
The results highlight the responsibility of social media companies to create guardrails and systems to protect young people from inaccurate and potentially dangerous health information, Sirilan said.
“TikTok can be a valuable tool to disseminate reproductive health information among adolescents, and health care professionals are often the most accurate sources of information on the platform,” researchers wrote in their abstract.
“Additionally, topics related to abortion had much higher rates of inaccurate information, so health care professionals should be aware of potential misinformation in this area,” they added. “Furthermore, stricter oversight on inaccurate videos could be beneficial, especially for adolescent users.”
Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
More information
The Nemours Foundation has more on sexual health for teenagers.
SOURCE: American Academy of Pediatrics, Sept. 26, 2025
