Misinformation on social media continues to shape what young people know and believe about contraception, abortion, and sexual health–and those narratives aren’t staying online. They show up in the exam room every day. Data from the 2025 YouR HeAlth Survey underscores the impact: about three in four young people think they need to “take a break” from birth control pills, and more than half worry that birth control has dangerous side effects.
Each week on Bedsider Providers+ we highlight three videos that capture what patients are seeing online and share mis/disinformation guides to help address the topics when they show up during clinical visits. Here are five of the most common misinformation trends that gained traction in 2025.
POV you’re getting an IUD
This trend frames IUD insertions as universally traumatic, often leaving out any mention of evidence-based pain management opinions. By omitting this information, and showing a worst-case scenario with a dismissive doctor, this video fuels fear and mistrust, and may deter people from considering IUDs. Without context about preparation, comfort measures, or typical experiences, viewers are left anxious and misinformed about a safe, widely used contraceptive option.
Trending videos misrepresent medication abortion as a dangerous and complex procedure
The video, part of a broader trend, portrays medication abortion as “universally traumatic” and medically extreme, dramatically exaggerates the risks and typical complications of legal medical abortion. Complications like retained products of conception and infection are rare, and the descriptions of “bleeding uncontrollably… for months,” a “rotting” placenta inside the uterus, and “purple” urine due to medical negligence present an extreme and highly atypical scenario as the general “reality” of abortion. Medication abortion is incredibly safe, with a very low risk of severe complications or death, significantly lower than the risk associated with childbirth.
GRWM Panic: Brain Tumors From Birth Control
Following a 2024 study linking DMPA use with a small increase in meningioma risk, influencers and class-action attorneys have amplified the concern online, often inaccurately. Many videos conflate distinct conditions, distort the data, or claim providers “don’t even know” the risks. Prolactinomas, meningiomas, and other brain tumors discussed online are generally unrelated to hormonal contraception. Anecdotal “horror stories” overshadow decades of robust data on hormonal methods’ safety, fueling disproportionate alarm.
‘Cyclical Living’ Craze: Blending Empowerment with Misinformation
A popular video urges women to reject “masculine systems” and live by lunar and menstrual cycles, suggesting intense workouts or shorter sleep are “unhealthy” during certain phases of their cycles. While these messages can feel affirming, it misrepresents physiology: menstrual cycles don’t reliably sync with the moon, and physical activity remains beneficial throughout the cycle for most people. These narratives also prime skepticism towards hormonal contraception by framing alignment with one’s “natural rhythm” as inherently superior–even when the claims lack evidence.
TikTok trend uses birth control package insert materials to “explain” side effects
This trend features creators holding up pharmaceutical product inserts to “explain” side effects, in this case moodiness. While mood changes can occur with hormonal birth control, these videos misrepresent how side effects are studied, reported, and understood. Mood changes with birth control are not a universal experience and have little to do with the content that’s included in the package inserts.