How To Spot Health Misinformation Online
Currently, nearly one in three Gen Z men use social media for health advice according to the Cleveland Clinic. However, using social media for medical information may not be the best idea as there is a lot of misinformation out there. Luckily, CNBC Make It has four signs that someone is spreading medical misinformation.
Too good to be true
Dr. Seema Yasminis the author of “What The Fact?!: Finding the Truth in All the Noise,” a guide for media literacy. He says that the accuracy of information that you find on the internet should always be questioned if it says things like “cure, 100% effective [and] guaranteed.”
Plays with emotions
Information about health on the internet that is made to create an emotional response is likely created this way to “get us to fall for lies,” says Yasmin. He then adds that “falsehoods are often designed to provoke a reaction.”
Selling you a cure that’s not backed by science
Deen Freelon is a professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. He says that if you see something on social media that’s promoting alternative medicine or cure for a condition you should be skeptical. When this happens it’s good to check if the post was actually made by a reputable health organization. Freelon says “there are lots of people who have business models that are built on this.”
It seems fake
If something “seems a little bit ridiculous, or [like] science fiction really,” it likely isn’t true, says Freelon. “The sorts of things that start to fall apart, when you start asking even the most basic questions.”
