Confronting Prostate Cancer Misinformation in the Digital Age

Stacy Loeb, MD

According to Stacy Loeb, MD, and a study at the American Urological Association (AUA) 2025 Annual Meeting, prostate cancer myths are common across social media—especially TikTok—and span causes, symptoms, screening, treatment, and transmission.

Her team reviewed top posts on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, and interviewed health care professionals about common myths. They found widespread misinformation, ranging from false symptoms and outdated screening guidelines to myths about treatment and transmission.

TikTok had the highest volume of misleading content. Loeb, professor of urology and population health at NYU Langone Health, emphasized the need for clinicians to listen to patient concerns, offer vetted information, and provide "information prescriptions" to guide patients to reliable sources.

She also highlighted the crucial role of professional societies in curating accurate, up-to-date educational materials.

“[P]rostate cancer misinformation is widespread across online platforms and spans many different aspects of the disease. This can lead to real consequences, such as unrealistic expectations, delayed or missed screening, or even financial harm from spending on unproven treatments,” Loeb said in an interview with Targeted Oncology^TM.

In the interview, Loeb further discussed the study analyzing prostate cancer misinformation on social media.

Targeted Oncology^TM: Could you give an overview of what your presentation at AUA covers, and how it relates to misinformation in prostate cancer?

Loeb: My presentation is a mixed-methods study of online information about prostate cancer in Spanish and English. First, we did an analysis of the top 300 posts about prostate cancer on 3 social media platforms—YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok—in both English and Spanish. Then, we also conducted semi structured interviews with health care providers and community health workers to find out the most common myths they hear in their practice, and what some of the downstream consequences of online misinformation are for clinical care in prostate cancer.

What types of information are you most frequently seeing online?

Some of the most common kinds of misinformation actually span the entire spectrum of prostate cancer—everything from causes and symptoms to myths about screening, treatment, supplements, and even the sexual transmission of cancer, which is not accurate. Prostate cancer is not sexually transmitted. So, we’re seeing myths across the entire disease continuum.

Interesting, and how might those kinds of impact patient decision-making or delay appropriate care in an oncology setting?

How might those kinds of myths impact patient decision-making or delay appropriate care?

One of the common things we see is a lot of posts discussing early warning signs of prostate cancer as being bone pain, blood in the urine, or waking up at night to urinate. These are not early warning signs. It’s well established that prostate cancer is asymptomatic in its early stages. That’s actually why screening is so important—it doesn’t have symptoms until it's advanced.

For example, bone pain would mean the cancer has already spread to the bones, which indicates advanced disease. So, it’s concerning when this type of misinformation spreads. Someone might think, "I don’t have any symptoms, so I’m fine," and skip screening, which is dangerous. On the flip side, people may become unnecessarily worried. Waking up at night to urinate is a common symptom of benign prostate enlargement, which affects most men as they age. So, assuming it’s cancer can cause undue fear.

Another issue is outdated information. For instance, back in 2011 and 2012, the US Preventive Services Task Force recommended against prostate cancer screening. But that has changed—they now recommend shared decision-making. However, many posts still circulate the old recommendations, which may mislead people into thinking screening isn’t recommended, when in fact, it is.

This highlights how online content can become outdated. Thankfully, we’ve had so much progress in prostate cancer treatment—new therapies and better outcomes—so it’s important to realize that even something posted a few years ago may no longer reflect current guidelines. Guidelines often change annually with new clinical trials and treatment approvals.

Were there any platforms that were particularly prone to spreading misinformation or more harmful than others?

Definitely. We saw more misinformation on TikTok.

How can oncologists address misinformation when talking to patients, especially those who come in with “TikTok knowledge”?

There are many ways. We actually just published a companion paper on this. In that study, we spoke with physicians and community health workers about strategies for addressing medical misinformation when it comes up with patients.

Some key points that emerged were the importance of fully listening to the patient and validating their concerns. It's important to recognize patient autonomy and understand why they were seeking a particular type of information. For example, if someone is interested in supplements or complementary medicine, many hospitals have integrative medicine programs where they can be referred.

Another important strategy is to provide an information prescription—a curated list of vetted, trustworthy resources tailored to the patient’s situation. Given the limited time during clinic visits, it’s understandable that patients will go online afterward. But because the internet is full of outdated or anecdotal content, having a go-to list from their clinician can really help.

And this goes both ways. Patients and families should also feel empowered to ask their care team for recommended resources.

What role do you see for professional societies or even local oncology practices in curating reliable content for patients?

There’s definitely a big role there. Many organizations are already involved. For example, the AUA has the Urology Care Foundation, which provides high-quality educational materials. The Prostate Cancer Foundation also produces a fantastic patient guide that is continually updated and written by expert physicians and scientists.

Having these types of resources available is invaluable. It allows clinicians to confidently direct patients to accurate information.

For oncologists who might not be able to attend your presentation in person, what would you say are the key takeaways?

The key takeaways are that prostate cancer misinformation is widespread across online platforms and spans many different aspects of the disease. This can lead to real consequences, such as unrealistic expectations, delayed or missed screening, or even financial harm from spending on unproven treatments.