The Basics Of How Health Misinformation Spreads

IRA FLATOW: This is Science Friday. I’m Ira Flatow. Later in the hour, we’ll talk about using massive astronomy to look for tiny quantum physics effects and a theatrical adaptation of Ben Franklin’s scientific legacy. But first, have you seen any dubious health claims popping up in your feed recently? There are false claims about vaccines that continue to circulate. Or maybe you’ve seen ads pushing suspicious looking supplements, or you heard politicians making claims about contraception or abortion that don’t quite match the science.

Well, as November nears, we’re continuing our focus on the science that’s shaping the election. And we’re kicking off a short series about health misinformation, and we’ll be looking into some of the health claims that you, our listeners, are curious about. More details on how to contact us in just a bit.

But first, joining me now to give us a primer on health misinformation is my guest Irving Washington, senior vice president and executive director of the Health Misinformation and Trust Initiative at KFF. That’s a nonprofit health policy research polling and news organization based in Washington, DC. Welcome to Science Friday.

IRVING WASHINGTON: Hi there, Ira. Glad to be here.

IRA FLATOW: Thank you very much. All right, let’s begin with the basics. What is health misinformation? What actually are we talking about here?

IRVING WASHINGTON: Yeah, health misinformation is trickier than a lot of people might think. I often hear people get mixed up in terminology. So sometimes, they’ll hear misinformation, disinformation, misleading claims, and it all blurs together. But no matter what terminology you might have heard, essentially, health misinformation, I look at it as anything that misrepresents health claim, a fact, a narrative, whether it’s intentional or not.

And in most cases, it’s usually just an outright lie but not in all cases. Sometimes, it’s more subtle, and they may use a smidgen of the truth. I like to think about if you’ve ever seen a post that pulls one specific data from a study to sell something like a miracle cure.

IRA FLATOW: Right.

IRVING WASHINGTON: The single data point is true, but it’s misleading because it leaves out a broader context.

IRA FLATOW: You know, I think most people think, oh, well, I can spot health misinformation. I won’t fall for that. But your research points to something called the muddled middle. Tell me about that.

IRVING WASHINGTON: Yeah, we did an interesting poll last year. And we found a group that we’re calling the muddled middle, as you said, and it’s a pretty big group of people across all demographics who, when they encounter misinformation, they don’t quite know what to believe. They might think when they see a false health claim that it probably could be true, or it probably could be false. And I think this is something that we all can relate to just from the sheer amount of overwhelming data and information we’re processing every day.

But the muddled middle is probably more interesting in the fact that when we talk about misinformation, I think you hear people mostly focus on the extremes– so either people who are buying into extreme conspiracy theories or people who are just skeptical and will reject almost anything. But the muddled middle is a group that is really open to new information from this uncertainty. So there’s ways to possibly engage and help inform them.

IRA FLATOW: Do you find that they actually will then take action to find out if those claims are true or not?

IRVING WASHINGTON: I think they will. This is why they’re sort of in the muddle middle because it can go either direction. So it’s mostly centers around uncertainty. So there’s the possibility that they will look for more information. But there’s also the downside of this, where because of that uncertainty, there might just be decision paralysis, where because you’re confused or uncertain may just not make any decision at all, which is a decision. And it’s not good for a lot of health outcomes.

IRA FLATOW: Analysis paralysis. Are there any groups who are more susceptible to believing health misinformation versus other groups?

IRVING WASHINGTON: Yeah, susceptibility to health misinformation isn’t as straightforward as it might seem. I think it’s sometimes easy to think that some groups might likely believe false claims more than the other, but it’s really, really influenced by a range of factors beyond demographics alone. But that said, we do see some trends, though it doesn’t mean everybody in these groups are susceptible.

One example younger adults. They tend to encounter more misinformation on social media. And possibly because they’re online more, they just are more exposed to it. There’s also certain communities of color, rural residents, people with lower levels of education. They report encountering health, misinformation more.

And then there’s just also just partisan divides with people who lean more conservative showing greater belief around misinformation around vaccines and public health. But I do just want to remind that the underlying factors that may contribute to this are ranging, including mistrust in institutions or limited access to reliable information. But I like to remind folks that the muddled middle is the largest group across all demographics. So this is where everyone falls, and we’re all susceptible to this.

IRA FLATOW: How can people vet health information that they come across?

IRVING WASHINGTON: Yeah, this is challenging, but it’s doable. And I know particularly in social media, we look at that as maybe, like, fun and relaxation, and it definitely can be that. But I also remind people in today’s environment, think of yourself as a detective as well, too, where you’re trying to figure out what’s true and what’s not while you’re consuming all this content.

First thing you can do is, like, look at who’s posting. Is it coming from a reputable source, verified expert or a well-known organization? Trusted sources provide more credibility.

The other thing to do is look at language. Reliable information tends to be straightforward, not sensational. So if you see dramatic phrases like miracle cure or the secret they don’t want you to know, that might be a clue that something’s off. And then again, just do cross checks with other sources and other people to see if you can verify this information elsewhere.

IRA FLATOW: And sometimes, they’ll have a little fine print at the bottom of an ad, for example. It says, this has not been verified by anybody.

IRVING WASHINGTON: Exactly And that’s where that detective work goes in. Again, it makes it harder these days as you’re processing things. You may just want to have fun and relax. But you really do have to have that detective mindset.

IRA FLATOW: And it’s not always necessarily obvious who is a trustworthy source. I mean, what about doctors that make claims on TikTok, right? They aren’t always what they appear to be.

IRVING WASHINGTON: This is true, and we often want to and really should trust people with credentials. But it’s smart to think about kind of what level of expertise you’re seeing this advice or where you’re seeing this information. One thing you want to do is definitely consider the specific expertise. Think about it in a way– would you want your cardiologist to perform brain surgery on you even though they’re both doctors?

Likely not. So when someone’s talking outside of their specialty, it’s OK to double check that. I also think you want to pay attention to how people are talking.

Do they say things like, this always works, or that never happens? Reliable health information is usually, again, straightforward. But there’s some nuance there as well that you need to talk about. So make sure you pay attention for that. And then just simply look are other experts saying these same things or not and can you verify it from other places.

IRA FLATOW: Why is it that health misinformation spreads so quickly and so easily?

IRVING WASHINGTON: You know, one thing I remind people is that health misinformation has been around for a while. I’m sure you and others have heard. Think of those old myths or cures you might have heard when you were younger.

So we’ve had it for a while. What’s changed is the reach and speed. Social media certainly accelerated things, and it’s designed to push content that gets greater reaction.

Sensational misinformation also spreads faster because of that. And then another reason is just the emotional appeal. A lot of misinformation targets our hopes and fears. And so that is what really draws into how misinformation spread. I tend to look at it as this is the perfect storm of technology, human psychology, and the complexity of health information.

IRA FLATOW: Yeah, well, you bring up a really interesting point. Speaking about technology, we now have AI, right? We never had that concern before. Maybe folks are waiting to see a doctor or just have medical questions, and then they turn to an AI chatbot dispensing health information. Not such a great idea, is it?

IRVING WASHINGTON: Well, AI is so fascinating. So what we’re seeing is more people are turning to AI, including ChatGPT, for health advice. Our polling found that around 70% of adults use these chat chatbots at least once a month, and then that number jumps up 25% for younger adults. But the thing is into your part of the question is when it comes to actually trusting it, that confidence is mixed.

A lot of people reported being unsure if the information they were getting was accurate or even safe to act on for regular users. And the other thing, one of my colleagues, we did an interesting experiment where we took 10 false health claims and we asked all the AI models about them over an eight month period. And what we saw was fascinating.

In some instances, they would cite specific institutions to verify their facts, and others, they wouldn’t. Other times, they would be vague and noncommittal. And there were even claims where one time, they would say something that’s false. And then over the course of the eighth months, they would say that it’s evolving discussion. So AI is a good starting point, but you just want to verify with your doctors and other health professionals.

IRA FLATOW: So how much trust should people put into AI? Any at all? Is it a good screening source?

IRVING WASHINGTON: You know, the cliche is true– trust but verify. And AI is a good starting point. So think about how you would also do a search prior to what AI is.

It’s a good starting point, but you want to verify the information. You also have to keep in mind, just in our experiment, the answers change according to users and updates. So it can be a good ground basis, but you should never fully rely on it.

IRA FLATOW: All right. Let’s talk finally about this election that’s coming up. What are some health misinformation trends that you are following?

IRVING WASHINGTON: One that’s probably not surprising for most people is that it’s a big area around vaccine misinformation. As we gear up for the election, we’re still seeing claims that vaccines cause serious health issues. And that fuels vaccine hesitancy, and it’s even discouraging some parents from getting their kids vaccinated. And it’s also extending to things beyond COVID-19, like M pox.

There’s also been a resurgence of miracle cures. Think about remedies that claim to fix everything from something that’s innocent as a minor element to something more serious, like cancer as well too. They usually are offering these simple solutions. And then the last thing I’ll mention is we’re also seeing a lot of misinformation around reproductive health. With women’s health and reproductive rights front and center right now, there’s misleading claims circulating about abortion and contraception.

IRA FLATOW: Right, yeah. We’re all familiar with that. Thank you very much. This was very helpful.

IRVING WASHINGTON: Thank you. Thank you very much.

IRA FLATOW: Irving Washington, senior vice president and executive director of the Health, Misinformation, and Trust Initiative at KFF. That’s a nonprofit health policy research polling and news organization. And now we want to hear from you folks out there.

Is there a piece of health information that you’ve seen recently that makes you skeptical about its accuracy? Well, you can email us a voice memo to scifri@sciencefriday.com or leave us a voicemail at 1-646-767-6532 or go to sciencefriday.com/healthino to submit a topic. And in a couple of weeks, we’ll select a couple of topics to investigate, with the help of a subject matter expert.

Copyright © 2024 Science Friday Initiative. All rights reserved. Science Friday transcripts are produced on a tight deadline by 3Play Media. Fidelity to the original aired/published audio or video file might vary, and text might be updated or amended in the future. For the authoritative record of Science Friday’s programming, please visit the original aired/published recording. For terms of use and more information, visit our policies pages at http://www.sciencefriday.com/about/policies/