Quality and reliability of anterior cruciate ligament injury-related short Chinese videos on Bilibili and TikTok: Cross-sectional study

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the quality and reliability of information presented in short videos related to anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries on two major Chinese social media platforms, TikTok and Bilibili. Methods: A systematic search using the keyword "ACL injuries" was conducted to identify the top 100 Chinese videos on TikTok and Bilibili, respectively. The Global Quality Score (GQS) and the modified DISCERN evaluation scale were employed to assess video content reliability and quality. Videos characteristics-including engagement metrics, uploader identity, video length, and content type-were also gathered. Statistical analyses were conducted to examine differences and correlations between platforms, uploader categories, and video quality. Results: Out of 200 videos reviewed, 175 met inclusion criteria. The most common content theme was treatment, found in 59 videos (33.71%). TikTok videos attracted higher user engagement than Bilibili. However, the overall video quality on both platforms was moderate. TikTok videos scored higher on GQS and modified DISCERN than on Bilibili. Engagement on TikTok showed no positive correlation with content quality, while that on Bilibili demonstrated a moderate positive correlation. Videos uploaded by healthcare professionals were more popular but often tended to be shorter in duration. Notably, videos uploaded by individual users often achieved quality scores comparable to, or even exceeding, those of medical professionals and science communicators. Conclusion: TikTok demonstrated higher engagement than Bilibili, but both platforms showed limited quality and reliability in ACL injury-related video content. No strong correlation was observed between video content quality and engagement. These findings highlight the need for improved oversight of ACL injury-related information disseminated through short video platforms in China.