Breast Cancer Prevention and Treatment: Misinformation on Pinterest, 2018

Abstract

Objectives. To quantify and describe the incidence of misinformation about breast cancer on the social media platform Pinterest, a leading source of women’s health (e.g., breast cancer) information.Methods. We performed a hand-coded content analysis on 797 Pinterest posts (“pins”) mentioning the terms “breast cancer” or “breast” and “cancer,” collected in November 2018.Results. From the original sample of 797, 178 (22.3%) made a factual claim about what social media users could do to prevent or treat breast cancer. Of these, more than half—91 (51.1%)—contained misinformation. Therefore, 11.4% of the sample overall contained misinformation related to breast cancer prevention or treatment.Conclusions. Pinterest is a significant vector of misinformation about breast cancer, especially given the platform’s overwhelmingly female composition and its visual means of conveying information.Public Health Implications. Health practitioners should be aware of the myths circulating about breast cancer prevention and treatment and be prepared both to dismantle misinformation and to stress reliable health guidance. Meanwhile, Pinterest may wish to widen the criteria it uses for identifying health misinformation on its platform.