The spread of health-related misinformation poses a growing threat to societies, with more and more people turning to search engines or social media for their health information. Misguided perceptions of health risks – such as smoking, alcohol consumption, unhealthy diets or physical inactivity – can lead to numerous life-changing and potentially deadly noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) like cancer or diabetes.
WHO/Europe’s new “Toolkit for tackling misinformation on noncommunicable diseases” explores why current measures implemented in the European Region are not achieving optimal results, and makes recommendations on collaborative action to better protect people from misinformation.
False claims in social media posts on smoking and drugs
Online content goes viral when it elicits strong emotions. The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how dangerous misinformation can be to people’s health – no matter whether false claims are disseminated intentionally or not.
The same is true for NCDs and their risk factors. “While NCDs are responsible for almost 90% of the disease burden in our region, related topics such as cancer, diets, alcohol, tobacco or drugs, are fertile ground for health misinformation, which spreads faster than most countering strategies can cope with,” said Dr Kremlin Wickramasinghe, ad interim Head of the WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases, which developed the toolkit.
A recent study revealed that nearly 9 out of 10 social media posts about smoking products and drugs contained misinformation. Additionally, more than a third of all social media content about diets was misleading or wrong, and roughly 40% of content about cancer and other NCDs was characterized by misinformation.
“That’s why we need a comprehensive framework that can unify the action of all stakeholders who share the same concerns about the spread of NCD health misinformation,” added Dr Wickramasinghe.
Why are we not winning the war against “fake news”?
The WHO toolkit presents an overview of the main challenges that make the fight against misinformation complicated. These challenges include:
- Users facing difficulties in assessing the credibility of information sources. Those at greatest risk of NCDs also suffer from poorer access to accurate and timely health information.
- The low economic cost of producing “fake news” compared with factually accurate information.
- Most online platforms’ algorithms funnel users towards content likely to attract and keep their attention and misinformation tends to fit those criteria. This may create a perverse financial incentive to direct users to information that harms their health.
- The scale of the problem and the lack of effective cooperation between authorities, tech companies, the media industry and civil society.
How do we tackle the misinformation problem?
The WHO guidance introduces the concept of a 3-way partnership in the fight against misinformation. This new methodology requires the following 3 actors to cooperate and take advantage of each other’s potential:
- Member States authorities. They play one of the most important roles in defining the terms of the cooperation between the different levels. Their motivation and initiative are crucial to gathering together the various stakeholders, and providing a platform of discussion between public and private actors.
- Industry/platform owners. Health misinformation campaigns circulate widely through social and traditional media. It is vital that the industry realizes the potential of collaboration with other stakeholders and fosters open communication channels while adopting transparent norms, such as labelling of false content and similar filtering practices.
- Civil society. Civil society organizations play an important role in monitoring and analysing the activities of internet platforms and governments – holding these actors to account and working to improve their conduct in a way that makes it easier for users to find accurate and reliable health information.