TUESDAY, June 23, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- The vast majority of sunscreen-related content on TikTok promotes sunscreen use, according to a study published online June 18 in PLOS Digital Health.
Alessandro Marcon, from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and colleagues examined the presence, engagement levels, and characteristics of sunscreen-related misinformation on TikTok. The analysis included 971 of the most viewed TikTok videos across the five most popular and relevant sunscreen-related hashtags (#sunscreen, #sunscreenviral, #spf, #sunscreenreview, and #sunprotection).
The researchers found that most videos promoted sunscreen use (86.8 percent), typically to prevent skin damage (17.4 percent), acne (15.3 percent), aging (11.5 percent), and cancer (6.1 percent). Very few videos contained critiques (6.0 percent), and even fewer asserted sunscreen causes harm (1.5 percent) or that it prevents health benefits (1.2 percent). While similar with respect to view counts, TikToks with only critique showed significantly higher engagement in likes, shares, and comments compared with those with only promotion.
"Sunscreen misinformation on TikTok constitutes an area of concern not for the total sum of overarching influence in terms of content production but rather in how strongly some sunscreen misinformation ideas resonated among particular audiences," the authors write.
