The quality and reliability of short videos about liver cirrhosis on Bilibili and TikTok: Cross-sectional study
This cross-sectional study reveals that while TikTok videos on liver cirrhosis achieve higher user engagement, Bilibili offers more in-depth content, with overall scientific quality remaining suboptimal and heavily dependent on the uploader's professional background rather than popularity.
Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer
Millions of people around the world live with a condition called liver cirrhosis, a serious state where healthy liver tissue is slowly replaced by scar tissue, eventually causing the organ to fail. This disease does not appear overnight; it is often the result of years of inflammation from causes like alcohol use or metabolic issues, slowly changing the liver's structure until it can no longer function properly. Because the early stages can be silent, public awareness and accurate medical information are vital for catching the disease before it becomes life-threatening. In recent years, many people have turned away from dense medical textbooks and toward short videos on platforms like TikTok and Bilibili to learn about their health. These clips offer quick, visual explanations that feel accessible, but they also carry a hidden risk: without strict oversight, the information they share can be incomplete, misleading, or simply wrong. When people rely on inaccurate advice for a complex condition like cirrhosis, they might delay proper treatment or follow dangerous habits, turning a manageable health issue into a crisis.
A team of researchers set out to investigate the quality of this digital health information by examining the most popular short videos about liver cirrhosis on two major Chinese platforms: TikTok and Bilibili. They did not conduct experiments on patients or analyze medical records; instead, they treated the videos themselves as the subject of study. The team gathered the top one hundred videos from each platform that discussed the causes, symptoms, or treatments of cirrhosis, filtering out personal stories, advertisements, and content that only mentioned the disease in passing. This left them with a collection of 157 videos to analyze. To judge the reliability of these clips, the researchers used three established scoring systems designed to measure how well health information is presented. These tools looked at whether the content was clear, whether the sources were trustworthy, and whether the information was practical for a viewer to use. Two medical experts watched and scored every video independently, ensuring that their assessments were consistent and fair.
The results revealed a striking divide between the two platforms and the people creating the content. Videos on TikTok were significantly shorter, lasting an average of just 57 seconds, while those on Bilibili ran much longer, averaging 328 seconds. This difference in length mirrored a difference in depth. The Bilibili videos, which featured a substantial proportion of doctors from various medical specialties alongside TCM practitioners, tended to provide more thorough explanations and received higher scores for overall quality. In contrast, the TikTok videos, while demonstrating significantly higher interaction levels with median likes nearly 40 times greater than those on Bilibili, generally offered less detailed information and scored lower on overall quality. However, the study found that the reliability scores for the two platforms were statistically similar, with no significant difference in how trustworthy the information appeared across the different apps. The researchers found that the number of likes or shares a video received did not predict how accurate or helpful it was. A video could have thousands of likes and still contain poor-quality information, while a highly accurate video might have very few views. This disconnect suggests that popularity is not a reliable guide to truth in the world of online health advice.
Who uploaded the video mattered more than the platform itself. The highest-quality content came from liver specialists and other medical doctors, who consistently provided information that was clearer and more scientifically sound. Videos created by traditional Chinese medicine practitioners showed a mix of value and risk, sometimes offering useful insights but occasionally including claims that lacked clear evidence. The lowest-quality videos came from patients and non-professional users. These clips often relied on personal anecdotes, which, while relatable, frequently lacked medical accuracy and sometimes offered dangerous advice based on individual experience rather than scientific fact. The study showed that when a video was made by a medical professional, it was significantly more likely to be trustworthy, regardless of whether it was on TikTok or Bilibili.
The researchers concluded that while short videos have become a primary way people learn about liver disease, the current quality of this information is not yet good enough to fully meet public needs. The most popular content is often the least detailed, and the most engaging creators are not always the most qualified. To improve the situation, the study suggests that platforms need to do more to verify the credentials of health creators and that viewers must learn to check who is speaking before they trust what they hear. The goal is not to stop people from using these tools, but to ensure that the information they find is as reliable as the medical care they might eventually receive. By understanding that a high number of likes does not equal high-quality science, the public can better navigate the digital landscape and find the accurate guidance they need to manage their health.
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