Currently submitted to: JMIR Infodemiology
Date Submitted: May 29, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Jun 10, 2026 - Aug 5, 2026
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
NOTE: This is an unreviewed Preprint
Warning: This is a unreviewed preprint (What is a preprint?). Readers are warned that the document has not been peer-reviewed by expert/patient reviewers or an academic editor, may contain misleading claims, and is likely to undergo changes before final publication, if accepted, or may have been rejected/withdrawn (a note "no longer under consideration" will appear above).
Peer review me: Readers with interest and expertise are encouraged to sign up as peer-reviewer, if the paper is within an open peer-review period (in this case, a "Peer Review Me" button to sign up as reviewer is displayed above). All preprints currently open for review are listed here. Outside of the formal open peer-review period we encourage you to tweet about the preprint.
Citation: Please cite this preprint only for review purposes or for grant applications and CVs (if you are the author).
Final version: If our system detects a final peer-reviewed "version of record" (VoR) published in any journal, a link to that VoR will appear below. Readers are then encourage to cite the VoR instead of this preprint.
Settings: If you are the author, you can login and change the preprint display settings, but the preprint URL/DOI is supposed to be stable and citable, so it should not be removed once posted.
Submit: To post your own preprint, simply submit to any JMIR journal, and choose the appropriate settings to expose your submitted version as preprint.
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
The communication of risks associated with GLP-1 receptor agonists: An AI-powered content analysis of TikTok videos
ABSTRACT
Background:
Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RA) are medications that reduce appetite and have become increasingly popular due to their evidenced weight management potential. However, very little is known about how the potential risks and side effects are communicated in online social media platforms.
Objective:
The current study aimed to explore how the risks associated with GLP-1RA are communicated in TikTok videos.
Methods:
Videos with GLP-1RA hashtags (e.g., Mounjaro, Ozempic, Semaglutide, Tirzepatide), were retrieved from TikTok via Apify. An artificial intelligence (AI) agent was built to use a codebook whose design was based on theoretical frameworks of risk communication.
Results:
4,340 TikTok videos were analyzed (783.7M views, 29.0M likes), 35.1% addressed risks. The most common videos were: personal experience, patient creators, and testimony. Few detailed risks (4.6%) or warned about misinformation (15.8%). Videos emphasizing risk yielded more shares (+44.0%) and comments (+49.8%); gain-framed content earned bookmarks (+44.7%); misinformation warnings raised likes (+41.2%) and comments (+38.7%); healthcare professionals and patients drew comments (+69.2%, +93.1%); calls to action reduced likes (−22.8%).
Conclusions:
Platforms must control unevidenced, potentially harmful content whereas governments and health authorities should proactively deliver rigorous, evidence-based GLP-1RA information via social media.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.