Health misinformation can have serious consequences. Here is why we may fall for it, and how we can guard against it.
Articles on Health misinformation
Displaying 1 - 20 of 34 articles
If an older person believes dodgy health advice on social media, it’s easy to blame their age. But we’re all susceptible.
Science works at a much slower pace than social media, opening a large window for early findings to be taken at face value and misinformation to spread.
Each study adds a piece to the puzzle of scientific knowledge. But any one study on its own doesn’t tell you all that much.
False claims that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines cause cancer could, ironically, lead to worse cancer outcomes by undermining a promising tool to prevent and treat it.
Public health scholars worry that the resurgence of measles may signal a coming wave of other vaccine-preventable diseases.
OpenAI’s new dedicated ‘health and wellness’ tool allows users to link medical records to chat. But it hasn’t been independently tested and will still make mistakes.
Listen and watch the trailer for a new podcast exploring the health questions people are obsessing over online, and exploring the weird and wonderful about the body.
If you see a health claim that seems too good – or too bad – to be true, take a moment to step back and assess the evidence.
The health secretary has made many inaccurate statements about vaccines. But the science is clear that vaccines have dramatically reduced childhood illness, disability and death.
Vaccine hesitancy isn’t a moral failure – it’s a property of a system in which people must balance personal and collective interests.
Health influencers – perhaps including Health Secretary RFK Jr. – are promoting the chemical as an elixir that improves memory and focus. But evidence for these claims is thin.
Brazilian disinformation experts Ergon Cugler and Igor Sacramento talk to The Conversation Weekly podcast.
Trump’s nominee for the top CDC role would join the agency at a time of great turmoil and uncertainty for medical research.
Strategies to combat misinformation often focus on written materials and fact-checking. Identifying deepfakes requires different skills.
87% of posts mentioned the benefits of the tests, while only 15% mentioned potential harms.
The story of Belle Gibson, ex-wellness influencer and convicted fraudster, is only the tip of the iceberg of content creators profiting from harmful health advice.
While there are plenty of patient perspectives on social media , resources from healthcare professionals are far fewer – and are often lower quality.
Raw milk has always carried the risk of serious illness, and this risk has only risen with bird flu spreading across dairy farms in the US.
Studies show that health misinformation on social media has led to fewer people getting vaccinated and more lives lost to COVID-19 and other life-threatening diseases.
Top contributors
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Endowed Professor of Health Policy and Associate Dean, George Washington University
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Professor of Information Systems, Michigan State University
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Professor of Health Policy and Management, George Washington University
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Assistant Professor of Cancer Prevention and Control, Health Communication Researcher, West Virginia University
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Mestre em Administração Pública e Governo, e pesquisador para a estratégia nacional contra a desinformação, Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV)
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Professor of Research Methods, Washington University in St. Louis
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Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Applied Ethics and CyberSecurity, Griffith University
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Assistant Clinical Professor in Nutrition and Dietetics, Mississippi State University
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Teaching Professor of Public Health, Arizona State University
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Host, The Conversation Weekly Podcast, The Conversation
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Professor of Neurology, Medicine (Infectious Diseases), and Epidemiology, University of Colorado Anschutz
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Senior Lecturer, Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, Australian National University
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Assistant Professor of Argumentation & Advocacy, Emerson College
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Professor of Information Sciences & Director, Social Change Enabling Impact Platform, RMIT University
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Senior Lecturer, School of Population Health, UNSW