Health Misinformation: The Online Pandemic of Information That Can Kill

Anne Grello, BSN, RN

I will never forget reading a message sent to my husband (a PA) from a family member during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The family member was asking him to listen to a video and wanted to know his opinion. The video was about microchips being embedded in the COVID-19 vaccine. As a nurse, I was appalled at the information that was being spread by someone with no healthcare background whatsoever. I was even more concerned that a member of our own family was exposed to this health misinformation and, as a result, was confused and worried that it was real. This was not the first time I had witnessed the real effects of misinformation. Remember the study about vaccines and autism? My parents were victims of the spread of that misinformation, and they were scared enough that they delayed my youngest sibling’s vaccines until adulthood. My parents were not the only ones who made that decision, and the overall herd immunity for Measles decreased over the last two decades. This ultimately led to outbreaks in multiple cities across America where the disease had previously been eradicated.

Misinformation is defined by Merriam-Webster as information that is incorrect or misleading. During COVID-19, the plethora of health misinformation online and the real-life, harmful effects it has on its audiences was substantial enough that the Surgeon General released Confronting Health Misinformation (hhs.gov), which is an advisory on how to build a healthy information environment. The advisory urged all Americans to get involved in slowing the spread of false, inaccurate medical content. The misinformation is categorized as a threat to public health that spreads rapidly and has far-reaching, terrifying consequences. For example, in their article Immunizing the public against misinformation (who.int), The World Health Organization shares how an American passed away from ingesting a fish tank cleaning product containing chloroquine after early reports mentioned hydroxychloroquine as a possible - yet unproven – remedy for the treatment of COVID-19. So, how do we help those around us detect misinformation as health care professionals? First, we must have an understanding of how this information spreads so rapidly.

Fear and popularity algorithms, while not the only culprits, are two things that play a huge part in the sharing of health misinformation. I will spare you a research article on the intricacies of search engine optimization but know that the mechanisms used by search engines and social media to promote popular content are unintentionally accelerating the spread of falsehoods. Misinformation expert Dr. Claire Wardle, co-founder, and leader of First Draft (the world’s foremost nonprofit focused on research and practice to address mis- and dis-information), shares insight on the matter in her Ted Talk titled: How you can help transform the internet into a place of trust. Dr. Wardle highlights that we don’t naturally have a rational relationship to information; we have an emotional one. Unfortunately, the algorithms that drive what we see online cater to this emotional relationship. Think about how personalized your experience with information is on social media. For example, my husband’s facebook feed highlights woodworking and workout videos, while mine highlights mom-related content and cute dogs. Social media drives promoting popular content, the things that receive the most “views”, the most “likes”, and the most comments. Content can become so easily sensationalized and go “viral”, not because there is truth to it, but because it is popular, and unfortunately, this is exactly how misinformation ends up being algorithmically promoted.

Many organizations such as WHO, the HHS, and First Draft have made it a priority to address health misinformation online in hopes of decreasing the number of incidences in which this information causes someone their life. They are working to re-work online networking algorithms to be able to check accuracy better rather than elevating ideas based only on engagement with the hopes of slowing the spread of health misinformation. It is a work in progress, but spreading awareness is a great place to start.

As healthcare professionals, we have a vested interest and duty to do our part in this movement, not only to protect our own families but also to protect the public as a whole. The challenge lies in how that is to be done without, of course, tampering with the right to freedom of expression online. I have listed below some suggestions on how we, as healthcare workers, can do our part:

If you see it, correct it
Proactively engage with patients and the public on health misinformation
Practice carefully looking at the author/creator of the content. Do they have any credentials, other publications, etc. that may confirm that they are experts in what they are posting?
Fact-check before pressing “share”
Use your own social media platform to share correct information
Partner with community groups and other local organizations to prevent and address health misinformation. For example, hospital systems can work with community members to develop localized public health messages
Consider becoming a Nurse Health Writer! – The more content out there that is written by trusted experts, the better

The rise of the internet and online social media has been paramount in allowing many people to network across the world. There are so many benefits to having this degree of connection that allows us to tap into the collective wisdom and experience of everyone around us. Unfortunately, these same measures of connection permit misinformation to proliferate exponentially in a matter of minutes. My husband’s family member did the right thing by sending the information to him and asking for an opinion before pushing the “share” button because the reality is that a lot of people were terrified of that very thing and to them, the idea of the government using the vaccine to implant microchips was very real. Being aware of the presence and effects of health misinformation is necessary to protect those we love. If we can all remember to do as WHO recommends and, “Pause, then take care before you share,” then little by little, we can help slow the spread.

References

The Anti-vaccination Movement: A Regression in Modern Medicine

Merriam-Webster: misinformation

Confronting Health Information: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory on Building a Healthy Information Environment

The MMR vaccine and autism: Sensation, refutation, retraction, and fraud

How you can help transform the internet into a place of trust | TED Talk

Immunizing the public against misinformation. World Health Organization