Background: Research has found that social media is a fertile ground for any kind of misinformation. Around 70% of available information related to cancer is misinformation.  

Objectives: This study aims to investigate research trends and themes of cancer misinformation in the extant literature. The search results initially showed 26 research articles, out of which the authors included 13 studies for this systematic literature review. Search string was created to use in the Scopus database using the keywords; ("cancer misinformation" OR "false cancer information" OR "misleading cancer claims" OR "debunked cancer myths").  

Results: Most of the studies are being conducted in the USA. Fewer studies focused on other regions: only one study was from Europe and Southeast Asia each, and two were from East Asia.  Three types of cancer misinformation research themes: 1) Information-seeking behavior and prevalence of cancer misinformation on social media; 2) Susceptibility to cancer misinformation: a) Mistrust in healthcare, b) Thinking dispositions and health literacy; and 3) Prevalence of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM).

Conclusion: Our findings revealed that mistrust in healthcare institutions and government agencies among racial and ethnic minorities is a major cause of susceptibility to cancer misinformation. Furthermore, there is a prevalence of different types of cancer misinformation on popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. There is abundant misinformation on various types of cancers in the information silos of cancer care. Critical media literacy and psychological and action interventions are possible solutions to combat cancer misinformation.

Policy Implications: Critical media literacy and psychological and action interventions are possible solutions to combat cancer misinformation. It can help in reducing the mistrust in health care institutions and system, which would eventually lead to early critical care to such patients.