Abstract B026: TikTok and #CancerPrevention: A content analysis
Authors: Churchill Victoria , Jaiswal Anika , Fairman Robert T. , Eke Osato , Rivers Brian M. 
Published: September 2024

Introduction: TikTok is a widely used social media platform that allows users to post original short-form videos, typically under three minutes long. Of the 121 million TikTok users in the United States, the majority fall in the 18-34 age range. While most videos are classified as “entertainment” users can explore an array of hashtags, including health-related messages. Given its potential to disseminate information on cancer prevention, our project explored the content of #CancerPrevention videos on TikTok. Methods: Using a naïve TikTok account via a web browser, the team extracted the URLs of the top 157 TikTok videos tagged with “CancerPrevention”. We simultaneously collected analytics of the number of likes the videos received, comments, bookmarks, shares, length of video, and upload date. We developed a content codebook that was refined over several sessions to enhance agreement. The team double-coded the top 60 videos that were available and in English. The remaining videos were not double-coded before the URL linking to the video expired, thus limiting our sample to 60. Average coder agreement was 89%. New data: The 60 videos included in the analysis totaled 679,346 likes, 12,567 comments, 180,151 bookmarks, and 69,300 shares. The median length of a video was 53 seconds (range 5 seconds to 7 minutes 24 seconds). The oldest video was posted in March 2021 and the newest in October 2023. Nearly half of the videos appeared to be from health professionals (43.5%), while a quarter were from lay individuals (22.6%). However, most videos were not affiliated with medical organizations, non-profits, or other reputable organizations (93.5%). As the hashtag suggested, most videos targeted a general audience (86.4%) and focused on cancer prevention (68.3%). Half of the videos discussed diet and nutrition as cancer prevention strategies (51.7%), while very few emphasized exercise (13.3%), tobacco use (6.7%), or alcohol use (8.3%). Most videos addressed general cancer prevention (69.5%), with colon cancer being the most frequently specified type (13.6%), followed by breast cancer (5.1%). Very few discussed pharmacology or industry-related topics (6.7%). More than half (56.7%) promoted unconventional cancer prevention strategies, such as avoiding sugar consumption, which is claimed in some videos “to feed cancer cells” and eating specific foods to prevent cancer. Conclusions: Despite uncertainties about its future, TikTok remains a highly popular social media platform among youth and young adults in the U.S., with the ability to rapidly disseminate messages to a wide audience. However, our project revealed that TikTok content often lacks evidence-based information, which can potentially lead to the spread of misinformation. Public health practitioners can use this opportunity to evaluate which messages garner the most engagement and develop research-based content that is relevant and accurate, countering the spread of inaccurate or harmful information.

Citation Format:Victoria Churchill, Anika Jaiswal, Robert T. Fairman, Osato Eke, Brian M. Rivers. TikTok and #CancerPrevention: A content analysis [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 17th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2024 Sep 21-24; Los Angeles, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2024;33(9 Suppl):Abstract nr B026.