Why Social Media is the Worst Source of Pregnancy Information
Because what goes viral isn’t always what’s true.
You may have seen it: a TikTok with 2 million views claiming that if you get an epidural, you will end up with a c-section. Or an Instagram Reel saying, “Your baby will come when they’re ready—induction is always unnecessary.” It’s polished. The creator looks confident. The music is catchy. The comments section is full of clapping emojis and “YES, thank you for saying this!!”
But here’s the thing: going viral doesn’t make it true.
And when it comes to pregnancy, getting the wrong information can do more than confuse you. It can lead to real stress, real fear, and real consequences.
Some studies have identified social media as a popular way for new mothers to connect. Yet those same sites might be the worst place to get your pregnancy info if you don’t know how to tell the difference between helpful content and harmful misinformation. And that’s not your fault—because social media was never built to prioritize truth.
Social Media Rewards Attention, Not Accuracy
A client of mine—let’s call her Jess—came to a prenatal session looking frustrated. “I know I shouldn’t be on TikTok, but it’s the only place that talks about birth like this,” she said. Jess had seen a video claiming that letting a provider perform a cervical check was “consenting to trauma.” The video was emotional. It framed refusal as empowerment. It also didn’t cite a single source.
Jess wasn’t wrong to want autonomy or information. But she was left trying to make a nuanced medical decision based on a 20-second video with a strong opinion and no evidence. She felt cornered. Scared to say yes. Scared to say no. Just… scared.
Social media encourages that kind of content. Platforms like TikTok and Instagram use algorithms that reward emotional intensity and visual engagement, not factual correctness. A 2023 study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that health information on TikTok, including pregnancy-related content, often lacked basic accuracy. In a review of over 250 videos related to fertility and pregnancy, only 37% were rated as “high-quality” when compared to evidence-based guidelines. The remaining majority either presented incomplete information or outright myths.
And here’s the real kicker: those lower-quality videos? They performed better. More likes, more shares, more comments. In the attention economy, truth is often less profitable than outrage.
What does that mean for expecting parents? That the loudest voices—the ones you’re most likely to see—aren’t necessarily the most trustworthy.
And while many creators do their best to be helpful, even experienced professionals on social media are working within a system that favors simplicity over nuance. And when it comes to pregnancy and birth, nuance is everything. Birth is full of gray areas. It lives in the land of “it depends.” That’s hard to fit into a Reel.
Why This Matters
The consequences of viral misinformation aren’t abstract—they show up in real ways, in real people’s lives.
I’ve worked with pregnant clients who delayed necessary care because a video told them “your baby will come when they’re ready, trust your body.” They believed induction was a trap and that declining everything was the most empowered choice. But that video didn’t mention evidence from large cohort studies showing that elective induction at 39 weeks, in some cases, reduces the risk of cesarean birth and hypertensive complications.
Other clients have felt shame for considering an epidural because the narrative online framed pain medication as weakness or failure. They hadn’t seen the studies showing that while epidurals are associated with longer second stages of labor, they do not significantly increase the risk of cesarean birth in low-risk pregnancies.
They’d seen the same story, told over and over again: if you trust your body, if you “do it right,” then birth will be easy, natural, and intervention-free.
The reality? Birth is complicated. Your values, your medical history, your provider, and your options all shape what the right choice looks like for you. No 60-second clip can account for that. But if you're steeped in social media content that treats every intervention as harm and every deviation from “natural” as failure, it’s easy to start believing that every decision you make is a potential mistake.
A 2022 qualitative study in Women and Birth explored how pregnant people engage with online information. Participants reported using social media because it felt relatable, quick, and emotionally validating—but also admitted that the information often made them feel anxious, overwhelmed, and confused. The researchers noted a troubling theme: participants couldn’t always tell what was evidence-based and what wasn’t, but trusted posts that “sounded confident”.
Confidence ≠ Credibility
You can see how easily this spirals. Not just in misinformation spreading, but in how people start to doubt themselves. To mistrust their providers. To feel responsible for outcomes they never could’ve predicted or controlled. Social media, with all its loud certainty, is the perfect storm for that kind of anxiety.
And yet, I understand why people turn to it. When the healthcare system is rushed, when appointments are short, when you don’t feel seen, of course you're going to search for answers elsewhere.
But I want to gently offer this: you deserve better than content designed to go viral. You deserve real, evidence-based information. You deserve to feel empowered and informed. And you deserve sources that acknowledge your experience without oversimplifying the truth.
TL;DR
Going viral ≠ being true. Just because a pregnancy post has thousands of likes doesn’t mean it’s evidence-based—or even safe.
Social media rewards emotions, not accuracy. Platforms are designed to promote content that grabs attention, not content that’s nuanced or medically sound.
Misinformation has real consequences. Believing myths about birth can lead to fear, shame, delayed care, or decisions that don’t reflect your actual values or needs.
You deserve better. You deserve information that’s grounded in evidence, delivered with care, and tailored to your unique experience—not a 20-second clip made for clicks.
References
Archer, C., and Kao, K. (2018) Mother, baby and Facebook makes three: does social media provide social support for new mothers? Media INternational Australia 168 (1) https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X18783016
Anim-Somuah, M., Smyth, R. M. D., & Jones, L. (2011). Epidural versus non-epidural or no analgesia for pain management in labour. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 10.1002/14651858.CD000331.pub4
Grobman, W. A., Rice, M. M., Reddy, U. M., et al. (2018). Labor induction versus expectant management in low-risk nulliparous women. New England Journal of Medicine, 379(6), 513–523. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1800566
Li, H. O.-Y., Bailey, A., Huynh, D., & Chan, J. (2023). Health Misinformation on TikTok: A Content Analysis of Pregnancy and Fertility-Related Videos. Journal of Medical Internet Research. http://dx.doi.org/10.18502/jfrh.v18i4.17424
Lupton, D., Pedersen, S., & Thomas, G. M. (2022). Pregnant women's use of digital media to negotiate and resist medical authority. Women and Birth, 35(2), e127–e134.