This story was updated on April 24, 2024, to reflect President Joe Biden's signing of the bill.
April 23, 2024 – It's becoming more of a matter of “when” than “if”: TikTok will probably be banned within the United States, giving the 170 million Americans who use the social media app another choice. Also gone can be the growing community of health experts who use the platform to offer legitimate health information and advice to their followers.
The US Senate gave its final approval on Tuesday to a bill that offers TikTok's Chinese owner, ByteDance, as much as a yr to sell the corporate or face a ban within the US. President Joe Biden signed the measure on Wednesday.
If TikTok is shut down, it could make the work of those that made the location a destination for expert- and user-generated videos on topics spanning the spectrum of consumer health unavailable.
TikTok “has had a positive impact on public awareness and enabled creative approaches to get this information out to less reachable audiences – which is a triumph,” said Adam Friedman, MD, professor and chair of dermatology on the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences.
And within the absence of excellent, accurate information, many fear that those spreading misinformation could fill the gaps.
Switch to other social media?
“Young people will likely find new platforms to fill the gap if TikTok can no longer operate in the U.S. But it's not clear how they will do that,” said Laura Schwab Reese, PhD, an associate professor of public health at Purdue University in West Lafayette, IN, who studies TikTok's impact on Information on reproductive health, Counseling for sexual assault, and more.
“In my work, we have shown that the TikTok videos with the most views on hashtags related to sexual/reproductive health and sexual violence generally contain high-quality, credible and engaging information,” said Schwab Reese.
Most of the content currently available on TikTok is more likely to move to Instagram Reels, predicted Dr. Claire Wardle. Founder and co-director of the Information Futures Lab at Brown University School of Public Health in Providence, RIYouTube can be often mentioned as a possible latest home for TikTok users.
“I wish there were other places where young people could find accurate information, but that's not the case right now.” She added: “Young people prefer websites that support user-generated content.”
One profit that might be lost with the top of TikTok is that users “normalize” medical and health issues for others. “TikTok is a place where people share firsthand experiences, and that helps destigmatize medical and health issues,” Wardle said. “So that would be a loss.”
Supporting positive mental health
TikTok “does a good job of bringing people's life experiences and different perspectives to light. We've seen important conversations about mental health happening on the site,” Wardle said.
And it's not only users. For example, in October 2023, the Cleveland Clinic partnered with the National Institute of Mental Health to share credible mental health information on TikTok. Posts include problematic signs of depressionlike individuals with high-functioning anxiety often show no external signs, and the difference between Migraines and other headaches.
“Mental health is a growing issue, and we know that the number of online searches related to this area has increased, especially among young people,” said Dr. Leo Pozuelo, chair of the department of psychology and psychiatry on the Cleveland Clinic, in a TikTok statement concerning the agreement. “So it's important that people have access to credible health information on a variety of platforms, including TikTok.”
“We encourage anyone who is having problems to seek information from a trusted source and not to be afraid to seek help from a doctor,” Pozuelo said.
Many people might be excluded
If most TikTok users must search for a latest platform, it might be difficult for creators of legitimate health and medical content to predict which will probably be hottest, Schwab Reese said. As a result, “there may be a lag between user adoption and access to high-quality health information.”
If TikTok goes offline, it may lead to a mass migration to the web.
The variety of Americans who get their medical and health information from TikTok now numbers within the tens of millions. For example, 2.2 million people follow family physician Mikhail Varshavski, DO, aka “Dr. Mike,” and eight.4 million follow plastic surgeon Anthony Youn, MD.
False information is not going to be missed
One thing that wouldn't be mourned with the top of TikTok, although it is going to likely resurface elsewhere, is misinformation on health and medical topics.
There are some “excellent doctors and nurses who do great work on the platform, creating videos and commenting on other videos,” Wardle said. “But we have to acknowledge that there is also a lot of content there that has not been reviewed by medical professionals for accuracy.”
“We have seen dangerous misinformation on topics such as oral contraception, skin care and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV),” Wardle added.
And due to the way in which TikTok's algorithm works, “users are more likely to see content that contains misinformation when they interact with it,” Schwab Reese said.
Friedman agreed that misinformation continues to plague TikTok. While lots of his dermatology colleagues use TikTok to share invaluable information, “I feel like the harm from misinformation outweighs the good that so many of my colleagues have accomplished.”
He beneficial that customers turn to other sources of reliable information, reminiscent of the Association of the American Academy of Dermatology Website for a wide selection of recommendation on skin conditions and skin health. He also beneficial web sites of organizations that specialise in specific conditions – reminiscent of the National Eczema AssociationThe National Psoriasis Foundationor HSConnect for individuals who, for instance, need to learn more about hidradenitis suppurativa.