‘Fake News’ in urology: evaluating the accuracy of articles shared on social media in genitourinary malignancies

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the accuracy of the most popular articles on social media platforms pertaining to genitourinary malignancies, and to identify the prevalence of misinformation available to patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The 10 most shared articles on popular social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Reddit) were identified for prostate cancer, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, testis cancer, and PSA testing using a social media analysis tool (August 2017 and August 2018). Articles were reviewed for accuracy by comparing the article information against available scientific research and consensus data. They were classified as accurate, misleading or inaccurate. The Mann-Whitney U-test was used for statistical comparison. RESULTS: Articles pertaining to prostate cancer were the most shared across all social media platforms (399 000 shares), followed by articles pertaining to kidney cancer (115 000), bladder cancer (17 894), PSA testing (8827) and testicular cancer (7045). The prevalence of inaccurate or misleading articles was high: prostate cancer, 7/10 articles; kidney, 3/10 articles; bladder, 2/10 articles; testis, 2/10 articles; and PSA testing, 1/10 articles. There was a significantly higher average number of shares for inaccurate (54 000 shares; P < 0.01) and misleading articles (7040 shares; P < 0.01) than for accurate articles (1900 shares). Inaccurate articles were 28 times more likely to be shared than factual articles. CONCLUSION: Misleading or inaccurate information on genitourinary malignancies is commonly shared on social media. This study highlights the importance of directing patients to appropriate cancer resources and potentially argues for oversight by the medical and technology communities.