Quality assessment of public education short videos on robot-assisted cholecystectomy and analysis of audience preferences.

Robot-assisted cholecystectomy (RAC) is widely implemented, but the quality of related public-facing information on short-video platforms remains largely unexamined. To systematically evaluate and compare the quality and reliability of RAC-related videos on Douyin and Bilibili, and to assess the influence of uploader background and audience engagement. We collected the top 100 videos from each platform Douyin using the keyword "Robot-assisted cholecystectomy". After applying exclusion criteria, 66 videos (49 from Douyin, 17 from Bilibili) were assessed using the Global Quality Score (GQS) and the modified DISCERN (mDISCERN) instrument. Videos were independently categorized by uploader source and content type. Bilibili hosted significantly longer videos than Douyin(median 452.0 vs. 76.3 s) and demonstrated a significantly higher mean GQS (3.41 vs. 2.61, P = 0.022). Professional individuals and instructional content consistently provided the highest GQS and mDISCERN scores, whereas non-professional institutions and promotional content performed the poorest. Notably, video duration and active engagement metrics, specifically comments and saves, were significantly and positively correlated with both GQS and mDISCERN scores (all P < 0.05). The quality of RAC information on short-video platforms is highly variable. While Douyin was associated with higher baseline audience engagement, Bilibili was associated with superior quality ratings and longer-form medical education. Increased engagement from authoritative medical professionals utilizing longer video formats is necessary to optimize the accurate dissemination of complex surgical data and combat low-quality promotional content.