Acetaminophen-autism misinformation drew disproportionate views on TikTok

Misinformation about acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) accounted for a disproportionate share of views among TikTok videos posted during a period of heightened public attention to the topic, according to research presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2026 National Conference & Exhibition in San Diego, California.^1,2

Researchers analyzed 53 TikTok videos posted between September and November 2025, following a September 22, 2025, US Food and Drug Administration announcement of an acetaminophen label change. Although 28.3% of analyzed videos contained misinformation, these videos accounted for 52.4% of views across the 28.13 million total views in the sample.

“Despite being a smaller portion of the overall available subject content, the misinformation videos accounted for over half of the total views of all the content we examined,” Shivani Srivastava, a medical student at Rutgers School of Medicine, said in a press release.

Researchers analyze 53 TikTok videos

Researchers conducted a cross-sectional content analysis using the search terms “tylenol autism,” “acetaminophen autism,” “paracetamol autism,” and #tylenol. Two reviewers independently classified videos by misinformation status, creator type, educational quality, thematic framing, and engagement.

Of the 53 videos, 52.8% contained information consistent with available evidence, 28.3% contained misinformation, and 18.9% were classified as mixed or uncertain. Inter-rater reliability for misinformation classification was substantial, with a Cohen κ of 0.86.

Health professionals in the sample produced exclusively evidence-consistent content. Influencers accounted for 73.3% of videos classified as misinformation (P < .001).

Misinformation videos also had lower educational quality scores than evidence-consistent videos, with mean Global Quality Scale scores of 1.73 and 4.18, respectively (P < .001). Among misinformation videos, 46.7% included conspiracy framing and 53.3% included pharmaceutical distrust.

In adjusted analysis, lower educational quality and conspiracy framing were independently associated with misinformation (P < .001 and P = .012, respectively). Creator type was no longer independently associated with misinformation after adjustment.

Misinformation generated more than half of views

The difference between the proportion of misinformation videos and their share of total views was pronounced. Although misinformation represented slightly more than one-quarter of the sample, it generated more than half of total views. A single misinformation video received 10.3 million views, accounting for 36.6% of exposure across the videos analyzed.

“Our results indicate that TikTok’s algorithm amplified low-quality, conspiracy-framed videos containing misinformation on a very sensitive health topic and allowed for misinformation videos to spread far wider than evidence-based videos that explained the lack of causal evidence between prenatal acetaminophen exposure and autism,” Srivastava said.

Because the study was a cross-sectional analysis of selected videos and their engagement metrics, however, the findings demonstrate disproportionate exposure within the sample rather than directly establishing how TikTok's recommendation algorithm caused the differences in reach.

The authors stated that the findings have implications for pediatricians caring for adolescents and young adults of reproductive age, particularly as patients encounter health information through social media.

“After seeing pregnant patients in our own clinics question whether it was safe to take Tylenol during pregnancy, we wanted to understand what information they were being exposed to online,” Srivastava said. “Our findings reveal how important it is for medical institutions to be part of the conversations on social media by sharing accurate, engaging content that reaches patients where they are.”

References

1. American Academy of Pediatrics. TikTok misinformation content on acetaminophen and autism surged after presidential announcement. Eurekalert. October 2, 2026. Accessed October 2, 2026. https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1145255

2. Poole K. Acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism on TikTok: disproportionate exposure to misinformation in a content analysis. Abstract presented at: American Academy of Pediatrics 2026 National Conference & Exhibition; October 2-6, 2026; San Diego, CA.