Physical Activity Misinformation on Social Media: Systematic Review
D David Thomas, Linglin Xu, Brian Yu, Octavio Alanis, John Adamek, Imani Canton, Xuan Lin, Yan Luo, Sean P Mullen

TL;DR
This review examines how physical activity misinformation spreads on social media, highlighting the need for better strategies to combat it.
Contribution
The first systematic review focusing specifically on physical activity misinformation on social media.
Findings
YouTube is the most studied platform for physical activity misinformation due to its popularity and accessible content.
Most studies found a prevalence of low-quality information and a lack of longitudinal research on the topic.
Only a small percentage of studies measured misinformation spread or its impact on vulnerable populations.
Abstract
Social media is a prominent way in which health information is spread. The accuracy and credibility of such sources range widely, with misleading statements, misreported results of studies, and a lack of references causing health misinformation to become a growing problem. However, previous research on health misinformation related to topics including vaccines, nutrition, and cancer has excluded physical activity despite it being highly searched for and discussed online. This systematic review was designed to synthesize the existing literature focused on physical activity misinformation on social media in accordance with PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) 2020 guidelines. Keyword searches were conducted in PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Scopus databases for records published between January 2016 and May 2025. This search…
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Taxonomy
TopicsMisinformation and Its Impacts · Social Media in Health Education · Health Literacy and Information Accessibility
