Currently submitted to: JMIR Infodemiology
Date Submitted: Jul 26, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Aug 5, 2026 - Sep 30, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.
Analysis of Abortion Content on TikTok Vs YouTube Before and After the Dobbs Decision
ABSTRACT
Background:
Abortion is widely discussed on social media platforms, which can influence patient decision-making and care-seeking behavior. TikTok and YouTube are the two most commonly used video-only social media platforms with different parent companies and vastly different user demographics which may alter the landscape of content users experience.
Objective:
This study compared the stance and type of abortion-related content on TikTok and YouTube before and after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision to assess changes over time.
Methods:
We performed a cross-sectional analysis of abortion-related TikTok and YouTube videos in May 2022 (pre-Dobbs) and June 2023 (post-Dobbs). We searched “abortion” on each platform and reviewed the first 155 videos pre-Dobbs and 175 post-Dobbs. We categorized videos by abortion stance (from strongly pro [+2] to strongly anti-abortion [-2] on a 5-point scale), content type, and presence of medical misinformation. We used Student t-tests, Chi-square, and Wilcoxon rank sum tests to compare platforms and time periods.
Results:
We analyzed 605 videos. Pre-Dobbs, TikTok was more pro-abortion (median +1 [IQR +2,0]) vs a neutral stance for You Tube (0 [IQR +2, -1], p=0.001). Post-Dobbs, TikTok’s abortion stance decreased with more anti-abortion content (changing -1 to a median 0 [IQR +2, 01], p=0.001), while YouTube’s stance remained unchanged. Content types differed consistently: TikTok had personal and political information, while YouTube predominantly featured news and political information. There was increased medical misinformation on TikTok post-Dobbs compared to pre-Dobbs (13.6 vs 5.4%, p=0.02), which was not seen on YouTube.
Conclusions:
Abortion-related content on two leading video-based social media platforms diverged following the Dobbs decision. TikTok became less pro-abortion with increased medical misinformation, while YouTube’s stance, content, and presence of medical misinformation remained similar. These platform-specific biases highlight the need for informed dialogue and increased accurate, unbiased content from medical professionals.
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