Excellent BMJ investigation by Deborah Cohen on how social media is importing US-style prescription drug marketing into the UK and Europe. Delighted to contribute a few thoughts. Worth a read. 👇

Deb Cohen@debscohen.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Prescription drug ads to consumers are banned in UK & EU. But those rules were written for TV, & newspapers - not Insta, TikTok & YouTube. Social media has enabled importation of US style ads - as we've see with the GLP1s. And don't know the cost. Me for @bmj.com www.bmj.com/content/393/...

New feature of our review of social media influencers’ promotion of prescription drugs in JAMA: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

"Influencer promotion can shape medication demand, blur the line between personal experience and advertising, and potentially contribute to inappropriate use." -- @raffaelheiss.bsky.social, on the lack of transparency in social media posts promoting Rx drugs. www.medpagetoday.com/publichealth...

Misinformation Abounds in Influencers' Promotion of Prescription Drugs

Systematic review turned up inaccurate or misleading advice, weak regulatory oversight

medpagetoday.com

Prescription Drug Promotion by Social Media Influencers: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... "....social media influencer promotion of prescription drugs was consistently associated with misinformation, weak and outdated regulatory oversight, & audience difficulty in recognizing promotional intent..."

Prescription Drug Promotion by Social Media Influencers

This systematic scoping review examines the existing research on social media influencer promotion of prescription drugs and identifies recurring themes, gaps in regulatory oversight, and opportunitie...

jamanetwork.com

🚨 New scoping review in @jamanetworkopen.com Evidence on prescription drug promotion by #influencers is still limited: only 12 relevant studies over 20 years. Patient storytelling can make ads harder to recognize — while regulation has not kept pace. 🔗Full Article: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Prescription Drug Promotion by Social Media Influencers

This systematic scoping review examines the existing research on social media influencer promotion of prescription drugs and identifies recurring themes, gaps in regulatory oversight, and opportunitie...

jamanetwork.com

📣New blog post📣 I summarize how social media platforms can influence all stages of the research cycle, and why control over data access amplifies this influence. Based on a recent comment w/ @freiling.bsky.social (linked in the post). #PlatformGovernance www.raffaelheiss.com/post/how-soc...

How Social Media Platforms Influence Academic Research, and How to Address it

Imagine if food or drug companies were allowed to hide the ingredients of their products from independent researchers. In a new comment published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Isab...

raffaelheiss.com

Do #socialmedia #platforms influence academic research? Little reason to assume they don’t. They fund research and control data access—amplifying industry influence across the research cycle. New comment w/ @freiling.bsky.social: www.nature.com/articles/s41... #DataAccess #ResearchIntegrity #DSA

"With ... policy reforms and critical academic debates ... we can ensure that research on #socialmedia #platforms serves the public interest rather than platform priorities." @raffaelheiss.bsky.social and @freiling.bsky.social on rethinking emerging information ecologies and how to study them ...

📢 Publication 📢 J Matthes, A Binder, @sofievranken.bsky.social @raffaelheiss.bsky.social, & @jarakankova.bsky.social content-analyzed alcohol in kids' media, revealing that it's comparatively more often verbally mentioned, interacted with, consumed, & linked to villains. 👉🏼 doi.org/10.1080/1520...

The four key biases of influencers’ medical advice (👇comment). #Influencers reach millions – often more than traditional news media – yet are still seen as private individuals and thus evade editorial responsibility. New blog post on our @bmj.com analysis: www.raffaelheiss.com/post/medical...

And because biased or misleading advice from influencers - amplified by parasocial bonds and direct engagement - can cause harm... Governments and platforms have responsibilities and must act: www.bmj.com/content/391/...

Responding to public health challenges of medical advice from social media influencers

Raffael Heiss and colleagues argue that influencers’ medical advice is often shaped by multiple biases and suggest how to reduce the associated risks Social media influencers have become powerful in ...

bmj.com

Medical advice from influencers is vexed by their lack of expertise, financial interests & industry influence What to do?! NEW @bmj.com some answers. We are not paying enough attention to the complexity & nuance of information environments where trust can grow www.bmj.com/content/391/...

Health information in age of social media and influence

Improving health discourse needs attention to information environments where trust can grow. Social media influencers have entered the healthcare conversation. Raffael Heiss and colleagues’ analysis ...

bmj.com

Responding to public health challenges of medical advice from social media influencers www.bmj.com/content/391/... "Influencers’ reliability is often undermined by four key biases: lack of expertise, industry influence, entrepreneurial interests, and personal beliefs."

Responding to public health challenges of medical advice from social media influencers

Raffael Heiss and colleagues argue that influencers’ medical advice is often shaped by multiple biases and suggest how to reduce the associated risks Social media influencers have become powerful in ...

bmj.com

Social media influencers are a growing source of medical advice but can be misleading. Misleading advice—amplified by parasocial bonds and direct engagement—can cause physical, psychological, financial, and systemic harm, say Raffael Heiss and colleagues www.bmj.com/content/391/...

The harmful and biased medical advice from social medial influencers, highlighting lack of expertise and financial conflicts. Many specific examples and recommendations provided bmj.com/content/391/...

📣New @bmj.com Analysis📣 We identify 4 key biases in #SocialMedia #Influencers’ medical advice — lack of expertise, industry influence, entrepreneurial interests, personal beliefs — and discuss examples. Importantly, we also outline key policy actions needed. Full text: www.bmj.com/content/391/...

📣New study in #JournalofAdolescentHealth: Among 1,003 Austrian youth, 83% see #health content from #influencers and 53% buy health products they recommend (see graph). Parasocial ties ↑ susceptibility to marketing; digital #healthliteracy protects. 🔗STUDY LINK (free): doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...

🚨 Some #NPOs look like independent #healthinformation hubs - but operate as strategic arms of the #F&B industry. They influence science, public messaging, and policy-makers. We study 5 cases: ILSI Europe, EUFIC, BNF, FEN, and Austria’s FEH. worldnutritionjournal.org/index.php/wn... (c) G. Mondy

I got an email yesterday afternoon that my NSF SPRF Postdoctoral Fellowship was terminated. My grant focused on testing interventions to address online misinformation and I was 8 months into a two year appointment.

Mike Wagner@prowag.bsky.social · last yr.

Friday Night Massacre of accurate information. A devastating day for the USA as tens of millions of dollars of grants seeking to combat the spread of false information were terminated. We have a federal govenrment that does not consider the verifiable truth a priority. www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p...

📢 New Blog Post A recent study shows that three-quarters of the German population have inadequate health literacy. But what role does school education play — and what needs to change? 📖 Read the full post: www.raffaelheiss.com/post/school-... #HealthLiteracy #HealthEducation #PublicHealth

School Education Needs Change to Bridge Gaps in Health Literacy

"Neither age nor grade level were significant predictors of health literacy."School education is meant to equip young people with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in society. But our socie...

raffaelheiss.com

📢 Spannender Artikel zum Thema #HealthInfluencer – mit Bezug auf unsere Studien und einem Blick auf die Chancen & Risiken.💡 Auch darin: spannende Interviews mit Influencern & Forschern – ich durfte auch ein paar Gedanken beisteuern. #Medienkompetenz #Gesundheitskommunikation #PublicHealth

📢 New Publication 📢 Alice Binder et al. analyzed TV series and movies named by Austrian kids and their parents, revealing that unhealthy food dominates, and further that characters' nonverbal evaluation of food is prominently linked to nutritional classifications. 👉🏼 doi.org/10.1016/j.jn...

The NIH canceled my research on vaccine hesitancy www.statnews.com/2025/03/28/v... via @statnews "Each year in the United States, approximately 6,000 people die from influenza. More than 7,000 will die from Covid-19 in 2025. ...an American child died from measles for the first time in a decade."

The NIH canceled my research on vaccine hesitancy

The decision to end research on vaccine hesitancy is deeply disrespectful of those who have lost or will lose loved ones to vaccine-preventable disease.

statnews.com

So it begins: "Email directs NIH staff to identify grants related to ‘fighting misinformation’." Honestly, I was a bit surprised that earlier lists of forbidden terms didn’t (yet) include “misinformation” & “disinformation.” Turns out, they had a separate plan for dealing with that kind of research.

Hours after NIH director confirmed, the agency tackles one of his priorities — ending ‘censorship’ in science

Hours after Jay Bhattacharya was confirmed as NIH director, the agency directed staff to identify contracts related to “fighting misinformation or disinformation”

statnews.com

Jakob-Moritz Eberl@jamoeberl.bsky.social · 2y ago

This December 2024 headline highlights why journalists must go beyond repeating Trump's claims and provide context. What does he actually mean by 'Cancel Culture'? What actions have Trump Republicans taken on this issue before How do their policies align with true academic freedom?

Wie erkenne ich 🚩🚩🚩 in den Gesundheitstipps von #Influencern? Unsere Checkliste hilft, fragwürdige Inhalte zu entlarven. 👇👇👇

ZDF Magazin Royale@zdfmagaz.in · last yr.

Damit ihr nicht bald „einen Gelben“ braucht, weil ihr aus Versehen auf medizinische Tipps unseriöser Medfluencer*innen gehört habt, hat das Projekt Health Influencers on Social Media eine Liste mit Red Flags aufgestellt. #Erdbeerkinn https://www.hism-fwf.com/de/educational-material

The weaponization of scientific institutions by an anti-science government…

Phil Lewis@phillewis.bsky.social · last yr.

The CDC is reportedly planning a large study into potential connections between vaccines and autism, "despite extensive scientific research that has disproven or failed to find evidence of such links"

📢Does school education improve #HealthLiteracy? Our data say NO. We tested 780 Austrian pupils (9–13) using a performance-based HL test. ❌Result: No improvements w/ grade level (fig1). ⚠️Problem: They increasingly rely on unmoderated sources, but aren’t prepared (fig2). 🔗FULL STUDY: rdcu.be/eb548

🚨 New study out! We coded ~1,000 TikTok & Insta posts on 5 controversial medical tests: 87% hyped benefits, only 15% mentioned harms. 68% had financial ties. 👉 #Overdiagnosis Study led by @brookenickel.bsky.social & @sydneyhealthlitlab.bsky.social 🌟 Read here👇 jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Social Media Posts About Medical Tests With Potential for Overdiagnosis

This cross-sectional study examines the tone and content of social media posts that discuss popular medical tests with potential for overdiagnosis or overuse.

jamanetwork.com

New blog post on #MediationAnalysis (MA), which is widely misunderstood and overused in #CommunicationResearch and #Psychology. I made mistakes using MA myself, and no one should be blamed. But it's important to discuss flaws, esp. as MA has become so popular. www.raffaelheiss.com/post/mediation

Why We Should Stop Using Mediation Analysis

"Imagine that a medical research group were to conduct an experimental test of a new drug for dementia, and use mediation analysis…”

raffaelheiss.com