These SoCal doctors are combating false health info on TikTok by uploading their own videos

TikTok can be, uh, problematic. Especially when it comes to health. You’ll find videos of blackhead clearing creams that look too good to be true, a questionable mouth-taping trend that’s supposed to help you sleep better, and even some creators touting the false benefits of drinking borax.

While the platform does take steps to remove or restrict misinformation, studies show false information still makes it through. Now, TikTok and the World Health Organization are partnering to ensure more reliable information on the app by tapping global health creators, including ones in Southern California, in a year-long program.

TikTok's misinformation problem

Among them is Dr. Brian Boxer Wachler, an eye surgeon in Beverly Hills. He specializes in keratoconus, which is an eye disease where the cornea weakens and bulges. While he pioneered a treatment that avoids a cornea transplant, he’s now taken that knowledge to TikTok. During the pandemic, his kids suggested he join.

“My daughters were about 13 at the time, [and] they said, ‘dad, there are some really good doctors on TikTok providing good information,’” he said. “‘You can speak and boil stuff down that people can understand.’”

He's since branched out from eye diseases to taking apart other issues. Whatever the outlandish take online, Boxer Wachler has probably fact-checked it. His style earned him a nickname as the “cap” doctor and a 3.4 million following (“cap” is Gen Z slang for a lie). Now, he’s become part of the World Health Organization’s FIDES network where more than 800 healthcare influencers are working to put better health information on social media.

They'll be making evidence-based content on their own accounts that will also go up on WHO’s official TikTok account and the FIDES network account.

He said the partnership has helped him as a creator, from access to information on specialist health topics to video editing tips.

“There’s a recent video that I’ve done for the WHO where it’s addressing vaping and the myths about vaping,” he said. “I had made my video [in] my standard way of doing it. And they had some feedback that I really didn’t consider from their perspective.”

Using the platform to talk mental health

When child psychiatrist Dr. Willough Jenkins started talking with kids 10 years ago, social media content wasn’t really a topic.

“Now it’s something that I talk about every day with pretty much every single one of my patients,” she said.

Jenkins is also a pharmacist, a medical director at Rady Children’s Hospital, and an associate professor of psychiatry at UC San Diego. But that shift with her patients is part of why she put another hat on — becoming a Southern California TikTok creator.

As a mom, a key focus for Jenkins is what’s happening with youth in Southern California. Things like children’s mental health bills and the recent cell phone bans on school campuses are top of mind. Over two years, her TikTok following has grown to more than 45,000, racking up millions of views with topics like caring for kids with anxiety and early childhood tablet use.

Focusing on fact-checked tools

Jenkins is also part of FIDES, with her group specifically aiming to combat mental health-related misinformation.

“It’s something that sometimes can be difficult to get reliable and evidence-based information about, so that’s the biggest reason I’m on the platform,” Jenkins said.

Often, mental health information on TikTok shows up on For You feeds through organic videos of people sharing their lived experiences with things like ADHD, depression and more. That personal window into someone’s life is part of why the app is so popular. But Jenkins said the missing piece is the professional aspect.

“There can be times that content is shared in terms of something that maybe helped an individual,” she said, “but then if we look at research or we look at data, that doesn’t necessarily help a huge group of people.”

That’s why Jenkins shares mental health resources, too. Even if someone can’t sit in her chair as a patient, they can have access to tools on social media to find help on their own.

What's next

California this week sued TikTok for allegedly duping people about the app's safety. The lawsuit is one of more than a dozen filed by states on Tuesday that claim TikTok designed its app to addict young people. The allegations in the lawsuit include that the app has contributed to a teen mental health crisis.

TikTok has called the allegations in the lawsuits misleading.