Social Media Misinformation About Contraception Spreads Amid Real Side Effect Concerns

The most viral claim currently circulating about hormonal birth control is not a peer-reviewed finding. It is a TikTok video, viewed by millions, in which a woman in an emergency room asks why so many women in their 30s struggle with cancer and infertility, and places the blame squarely on hormonal contraceptives. That video alone has collected 2.6 million likes and 21,000 comments. It is also, according to physicians and published research, wrong.

A 2024 analysis of TikTok posts about birth control found that nearly half of posts on the topic were actively discouraging women from using it. The TikTok videos reviewed in a separate cross-sectional study on contraceptive content had accumulated a combined 4.85 billion views and 14.6 million likes, confirming the scale of reach. A National Library of Medicine study published in 2025 concluded it had become "increasingly difficult to distinguish accurate content from misleading information" about contraceptives on TikTok, and urged providers to be prepared to counter online myths directly in the exam room.

The myths are specific and recurring. Dr. Jennifer Lincoln, an OB-GYN based in Portland, Oregon, who makes debunking videos online, catalogued them plainly: "Birth control is bad for you. It gives you infertility, it causes cancer, it makes you not attracted to your partner. It causes abortions. You name it, somebody on social media has said it." Lincoln added that TikTok has effectively replaced search engines for many of her patients as a primary health information source.

Among the most medically consequential claims is the assertion that emergency contraception and intrauterine devices function as abortifacients. The FDA updated the Plan B label in 2022 to clarify explicitly that the pill does not block implantation of a fertilized egg, yet the claim persists and has been used to oppose policies that expand access to contraceptive services.

Dr. Bayo Curry-Winchell, a family physician and medical director for the Saint Mary's Urgent Care Group in Reno, Nevada, said the fears her patients bring to appointments mirror what circulates online. "Taking the pill has almost become a bad thing, where you won't fit in if you're taking it," she said. The pattern is particularly pronounced among patients between roughly 14 and 32 years old, according to Curry-Winchell, and a recent KFF poll confirmed that age group is the most likely to cite social media as a primary health information source.

That context matters because the frustrations driving some of this content are not entirely fabricated. Known side effects of hormonal contraception include headaches, nausea, sore breasts, and irregular spotting, and clinicians acknowledge these are real experiences. The problem, according to Dr. Jessica Shepherd, an obstetrician, gynecologist, and sexual health educator, is when anecdote displaces evidence entirely. "It really upsets me when I hear these claims," Shepherd said, "because women believe it."

Women who experience side effects and want to switch methods should consult a clinician, not an algorithm. Options including different pill formulations, hormonal IUDs, non-hormonal copper IUDs, implants, and injections each carry distinct side-effect profiles that a provider can match to individual health history. Research presented at the 2025 ACOG Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting found that a substantial proportion of TikTok videos about hormonal birth control not only presented misleading information but actively fostered negative perceptions, reinforcing the case for the exam room over the For You page. ACOG has also issued a nationwide fact sheet on contraception misinformation as a resource for both patients and providers navigating this landscape.