When Advocacy Obscures Accuracy Online: Digital Pandemics of Public Health Misinformation Through an Antifluoride Case Study

Seymour, Brittany; Getman, Rebekah; Saraf, Avinash; Zhang, Lily H.; Kalenderian, Elsbeth

doi:10.2105/ajph.2014.302437

Cited by 67 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Similar patterns are observed in discussions on water fluoridation, as memorably invoked in the 1964 movie Dr. Strangelove. Seymour et al (2015) analysed the anti-fluoride network online and found that strong ties among the community are obstacles for expert opinions to be accepted. This indicates that social homogeneity may well be the primary driver of content diffusion and clustering.…”

Section: Othersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic Literature Review on the Spread of Health-related Misinformation on Social Media

Wang

McKee

Torbica

et al. 2019

Social Science & Medicine

1,252

806

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A B S T R A C TContemporary commentators describe the current period as "an era of fake news" in which misinformation, generated intentionally or unintentionally, spreads rapidly. Although affecting all areas of life, it poses particular problems in the health arena, where it can delay or prevent effective care, in some cases threatening the lives of individuals. While examples of the rapid spread of misinformation date back to the earliest days of scientific medicine, the internet, by allowing instantaneous communication and powerful amplification has brought about a quantum change. In democracies where ideas compete in the marketplace for attention, accurate scientific information, which may be difficult to comprehend and even dull, is easily crowded out by sensationalized news. In order to uncover the current evidence and better understand the mechanism of misinformation spread, we report a systematic review of the nature and potential drivers of health-related misinformation. We searched PubMed, Cochrane, Web of Science, Scopus and Google databases to identify relevant methodological and empirical articles published between 2012 and 2018. A total of 57 articles were included for full-text analysis. Overall, we observe an increasing trend in published articles on health-related misinformation and the role of social media in its propagation. The most extensively studied topics involving misinformation relate to vaccination, Ebola and Zika Virus, although others, such as nutrition, cancer, fluoridation of water and smoking also featured. Studies adopted theoretical frameworks from psychology and network science, while co-citation analysis revealed potential for greater collaboration across fields. Most studies employed content analysis, social network analysis or experiments, drawing on disparate disciplinary paradigms. Future research should examine susceptibility of different sociodemographic groups to misinformation and understand the role of belief systems on the intention to spread misinformation. Further interdisciplinary research is also warranted to identify effective and tailored interventions to counter the spread of health-related misinformation online.

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Section: Othersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Systematic Literature Review on the Spread of Health-related Misinformation on Social Media

Wang

McKee

Torbica

et al. 2019

Social Science & Medicine

1,252

806

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“…A study of digital pandemics of public health misinformation found that in online discussions about a sample scientific publication, half of social media users encountered negative and nonempirical content unrelated to the original paper. 3 The authors refer to this problem as "social diffusion," and concluded that public health organizations must employ new social media strategies to improve their communication of public health information.At the clinical level, doctors attempting to change the minds of patients who cling to potentially harmful health myths and misconceptions will need patience. People are unlikely to abandon long-held beliefs overnight, especially if it means abandoning online communities that have become an important part of their lives.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Containing health myths in the age of viral misinformation

Collier¹

2018

CMAJ

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It has never been easier in human history to find and share information about health and medicine. But much of the information found on the Internet and shared on social media is inaccurate and potentially dangerous. As more people seek health content online, it will become increasingly important for medical researchers and practitioners to find effective ways of steering the public toward evidence-based content and away from myths and pseudoscience.Viral misinformation has become a threat to public health. Unfounded fears about vaccines have resulted in the re-emergence of preventable diseases. Purveyors of naturopathy and homeopathy have huge audiences on social media, and often discourage their followers from seeking medical care for serious illnesses. Fad diets with unhealthy adverse effects, unproven wellness products hawked by celebrities, appeals to opinion and emotion over facts and reason -all of these proliferate online like bacteria on agar.What can science and medicine do to contain the threat of health misinformation? Throwing more facts at the problem, unfortunately, is not the answer. People who study the growing disregard for evidence in society suggest this is more a matter of human psychology than scientific literacy. No matter how much contrary evidence they encounter, people tend to cling to long-held health myths. Many social media users avoid sources of information that challenge their views, sticking to communities in which their beliefs are confirmed. Nor is it constructive for medical experts to talk down to people whose beliefs fall outside the consensus within the scientific community. Well-known physicians and scientists with large numbers of followers on social media frequently dismiss views they deem unworthy of respect, with disparaging remarks and putdowns. As a result, people who already have misgivings about modern medicine become further alienated. Humility, compassion and friendly persuasion would perhaps make for a more productive approach to changing minds than combative superiority.It is beyond the scope of medicine to fix the Internet, but techsavvy medical experts can assist in the fight against misinformation. They can lend their expertise to technology companies and help develop better methods of weeding out low-quality health content and promoting medical knowledge based on scientific data. The medical community can also experiment with unconventional ways of disseminating accurate health information.One new approach that has shown promise is contacting social media influencers and asking them to share useful medical content with their followers.2 This can be a more productive means of reaching a skeptical audience than having medical experts use traditional channels of communication, which usually go no further than likeminded peers. The goal of generating medical knowledge, after all, is to improve human health, not receive kudos from colleagues. Likewise, public health organizations need to improve their social media presence to help Internet users find accurate hea...

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“…These comments put little credence in scientific research evidence, and instead appealed to anecdotes. The study of the spread of misinformation has been described as network sociology, and "it may be as influential as the information content and scientific validity of a particular health topic discussed using social media" ( [32], p. 517). It may be useful for future research to examine how an appeal to anecdotes affects the spread of public health messages.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reactions to a Low-Fat Milk Social Media Intervention in the US: The Choose 1% Milk Campaign

et al. 2017

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(1) Background: Social media has increased in importance as a primary source of health communication but has received little academic attention. The purpose of this study was to conduct a content analysis of Facebook comments made in response to a five-week statewide social media intervention promoting use of 1% low-fat milk. Formative research identified health messages to promote, and 16 health messages consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans were posted. During the intervention, 454 Facebook users posted 489 relevant comments; (2) Methods: The themes of user comments were identified using mixed-methods with qualitative identification of themes supplemented by cluster analysis; (3) Results: Six broad themes with 19 sub-themes are identified: (a) sugar, fat, and nutrients, (b) defiant, (c) watery milk, (d) personal preference, (e) evidence and logic, and (f) pure and natural; (4) The subject of milk is surprisingly controversial, a contested terrain in the mind of the consumer with a variety of competing perspectives that influence consumption. Public reactions to a social media nutrition education intervention are useful in understanding audience psychographics toward the desired behavior, require continual efforts to monitor and manage the social media campaign, but provide an opportunity to maximize the utility of real-time interactions with your audience.

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When Advocacy Obscures Accuracy Online: Digital Pandemics of Public Health Misinformation Through an Antifluoride Case Study

Abstract: Network sociology may be as influential as the information content and scientific validity of a particular health topic discussed using social media. Public health must employ social strategies for improved communication management.

Cited by 67 publications

References 27 publications

Systematic Literature Review on the Spread of Health-related Misinformation on Social Media

Systematic Literature Review on the Spread of Health-related Misinformation on Social Media

Containing health myths in the age of viral misinformation

Reactions to a Low-Fat Milk Social Media Intervention in the US: The Choose 1% Milk Campaign

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