When Dr. Garth Graham thinks about health misinformation on social media platforms, he envisions a garden.
No matter how bountiful or verdant that garden is, even the head of YouTube91裸聊视频檚 global health division admits it91裸聊视频檚 often in need of tending.
91裸聊视频淗ow do you weed and pull out the bad information?91裸聊视频� he questioned.
91裸聊视频淏ut also91裸聊视频ow do you plant the seeds and make sure people have access to good information as well as high quality information?91裸聊视频�
For social media companies, these have become perennial questions that have only grown in importance as the number of platforms multiplied and people began spending increasing amounts of time online.
Now, it91裸聊视频檚 not uncommon to spot misinformation with almost every scroll.
A 2022 paper published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization reviewed 31 studies examining how prevalent misinformation is. The analysis found misinformation in up to 51 per cent of social media posts associated with vaccines, up to 28.8 per cent of content associated with COVID-19, and up to 60 per cent of posts related to pandemics.
An estimated 20 to 30 per cent of YouTube videos about emerging infectious diseases were also found to contain inaccurate or misleading information.
The consequences can be harmful, if not deadly.
Research the Council of Canadian Academies released in 2023 said COVID-19 misinformation alone contributed to more than 2,800 Canadian deaths and at least $300 million in hospital and ICU visits.
Platforms take the risks seriously, Graham said in an interview. 91裸聊视频淲e are always concerned about anything that may produce harm.91裸聊视频�
That concern often leads platforms to remove anything violating their content policies.
YouTube, for example, has banned content denying the existence of some medical conditions or contradicting health authority guidance on prevention and treatment.
Examples embedded in its medical misinformation policy show the company removes posts promoting turpentine, gasoline and kerosene as a treatment for certain conditions because these substances cause death. Ivermectin, used to treat parasitic worms in animals and humans, and hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug, are also barred from being promoted as COVID-19 cures.
When it comes to vaccines, YouTube bans videos alleging immunizations cause cancer or paralysis.
Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta Platforms Inc. refused to comment for this story and TikTok did not respond to a request for comment, but in broad strokes, these companies have similar policies to YouTube.
Yet Timothy Caulfield, a University of Alberta professor focused on health law and policy, still spots medical misinformation on platforms. He recently asked his students to search for stem cell content and several posts spreading unproven therapies came up easily.
Still, he sympathizes with some of the challenges tech companies face because he sees conquering health misinformation as a game of 91裸聊视频渨hack-a-mole.91裸聊视频�
He says there91裸聊视频檚 a nimbleness to spreaders of misinformation, who are often motivated to keep finding ways to circumvent removal policies because their posts can boost profits and brands or spread an ideology.
91裸聊视频淭hey can work around the moderation strategies, but that just shows how we91裸聊视频檙e not going to fix this with one tool,91裸聊视频� Caulfield said.
91裸聊视频淭his is going to be an on ongoing battle.91裸聊视频�
In its misinformation policy posted on its website, Meta acknowledges the difficulties, saying 91裸聊视频渨hat is true one minute may not be true the next minute.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频淧eople also have different levels of information about the world around them and may believe something is true when it is not,91裸聊视频� the policy says.
In an attempt to keep up with everything, Meta relies on independent experts to assess how true content is and whether it is likely to directly contribute imminent harm before it is removed. Third-party fact checking organizations are also contracted to review and rate the accuracy of its most viral content.
At YouTube, workers, including some who form an 91裸聊视频渋ntelligence desk91裸聊视频� monitoring posts and news to detect trends that might need to be mitigated, are used along with machine learning programs, which the company says are well suited to detecting patterns in misinformation.
Some responsibility is also put on credible health-care practitioners and institutions, whose content platforms highlight recommendations to make it easier for users to find trustworthy information.
YouTube, for example, has partnered with organizations including the University Health Network and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.
CAMH runs a YouTube channel where medical professionals explain everything from schizophrenia to eating disorders. Production funding came from YouTube, but the institution91裸聊视频檚 resources were used for script writing and clinical review, CAMH spokeswoman Hayley Clark said in an email.
Graham sees it as a good example of the health-care profession 91裸聊视频渕eeting people where they are,91裸聊视频� which he said is 91裸聊视频渉ow we battle misinformation.91裸聊视频�
91裸聊视频�(Credible information) has to be in the palm of people91裸聊视频檚 hands so that they can have dinner conversations, so when they91裸聊视频檙e sitting down in their couch that they91裸聊视频檙e empowered,91裸聊视频� he said.
But when it comes to other organizations and doctors, 91裸聊视频渨e can91裸聊视频檛 assume that all of them have the capacity to do this,91裸聊视频� said Heidi Tworek, an associate professor at the University of British Columbia, whose research focuses on the effects of new media technologies.
These organizations want to get credible information out, but in the cash-strapped and time-lacking health-care industry, there91裸聊视频檚 always another patient to help.
91裸聊视频淪ome health-care institutions would say, 91裸聊视频極K, we91裸聊视频檝e got X amount of money, we91裸聊视频檝e got to choose what we spend it on. Maybe we want to spend it on something other than communications,91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频� Tworek said.
In some instances, doctors are also 91裸聊视频渄oing it off the side of their desk91裸聊视频ecause they think it is valuable,91裸聊视频� but that subjects them to new risks like online attacks and sometimes even death threats.
91裸聊视频淪ome people don91裸聊视频檛 want to enter those spaces at all because they see what happens to others,91裸聊视频� she said.
To better combat medical misinformation, she would like platforms to act more responsibly because she often notices their algorithms push problematic content to the top of social media timelines.
However, she and Caulfield agree health misinformation needs an all-hands-on-deck approach.
91裸聊视频淭he platforms bear a lot of responsibility. They91裸聊视频檙e becoming like utilities and we know the impact that they have on public discourse, on polarization,91裸聊视频� Caulfield said.
91裸聊视频淏ut we also need to teach critical thinking skills.91裸聊视频�
That could begin at school, where students could learn how to identify credible sources and detect when something could be incorrect 91裸聊视频� lessons he91裸聊视频檚 heard Finland begins in kindergarten.
No matter when or how that education takes place, he said the bottom line is 91裸聊视频渨e need to give citizens the tools to discern what91裸聊视频檚 misinformation.91裸聊视频�
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