Chief Complaint: “Her instincts were telling her that drinking laundry detergent was a bad idea.”

“Her instincts were telling her that drinking laundry detergent was a bad idea.”

Yeah. That’s an actual quote about an actual person who participated in the actual #boraxchallenge and lived to regret it.

The #boraxchallenge isn’t the only laundry detergent-based social media catastrophe, but it deserves some extra attention because it wasn’t just about getting attention for doing stupid stuff. “Health influencers” convinced everyday Americans that ingesting Borax with water would reduce inflammation and joint pain (it very much doesn’t).

We all saw the proliferation of health misinformation surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic. For example:

With RFK Jr tapped to lead HHS, we’re going to see further dissemination of medical misinformation, like anti-vaccine rhetoric and diatribes against flouride.

We’re in a rhetorical battle for public health. As medical educators, we need to be leading the charge to communicate science in ways that are effective, engaging, and persuasive.

Definitions:

• Disinformation: refers to false or misleading information deliberately created and disseminated with the intention to deceive or manipulate others

• Misinformation: refers to false or inaccurate information that is shared without the intent to deceive

• Health Misinformation: any health-related claim of fact that is false based on current scientific consensus

• Infodemic: too much information including false or misleading information in digital and physical environments during a disease outbreak

Fast Facts:

• Survey of 600 Americans:

  • People with lower health literacy were more likely to use television, social media, and blogs or celebrity webpages for health information

• Survey conducted in 2023

  • Nationally representative sample of U.S. adults by KFF (formerly Kaiser Family Foundation):

Misinformation Spreads Faster than Truth:

MAF = Engagement on misinformation post / Average engagement on posts from creator prior to misinformation post

Based on this chart, we see that in 2022, a post with false information went 35x as viral as a factual post on Twitter.   🤯

Right now, we’re getting our butts handed to us by the pseudo-health-science industrial complex. And it’s not even close.

This isn’t the first time medical misinformation has been a challenge to public health (think injecting liquid derived from cow scabs was popular?), but the combination of social media, generative AI, information silos, and a general distrust of institutions is something new.

I know physicians don’t go to medical school and residency to pursue their dream of social media fame. And many I talk to are hesitant, resistant, scared, or dismissive of the idea.

I don’t think they are wrong for feeling the way they do.

But if we’re going to have a chance we need to get players out on the field.

Plan:

• Take this quiz to see if you can spot the troll account (I’m ashamed to say I got some wrong)

• Keep yourself up-to-date through credible sources (KFF Health Misinformation and Trust program may be a good place to start)

• Check out this list I made of successful short-video templates for physicians on social media

Spot Check:

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