Contraception on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok A content and quality analysis

Background. Young people and adults increasingly obtain information about contraception via social media.Research aim. Against this background, the aim of this study is to investigate for the first time the content and quality of German-language contraceptive posts on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. Research questions on providers (F1), content (F2), and quality of contraceptive posts (F3) as well as audience reactions (F4) will be answered.Materials and methods. A sample of N = 1000 contraceptive posts from YouTube (500), Instagram (250), and TikTok (250) was drawn. A maximum of 20 contraception-related audience comments per post were included in the comment sample (N = 12,454). Posts and comments were analyzed using reliability-tested codebooks. SPSS was used for data analysis. The study is preregistered and all data, materials, and analysis scripts are publicly available.Results. The majority of contraceptive posts were found to be from health laypersons (52%), followed by media professionals and health professionals (F1). In terms of content, contraceptive posts covered all available contraceptive methods, with the pill (69%) and condoms (40%) dominating (F2). According to common quality criteria, there were clear deficits, with YouTube videos scoring best in comparison (F3). TikTok videos, on the other hand, were top performers in terms of audience interaction, attracting the most views, likes, and comments. Comment columns were often used by the audience to share their own contraceptive experiences or ask follow-up questions (F4).Discussion. Future research as well as practice interventions are needed to further assess the quality of contraceptive information in social media and improve it in a more targeted way.