Here’s how to spot medical misinformation on social media

With access to what seems like a never-ending flow of information online, some Gen Z men are relying on social media for their health advice.

One out of 3 Gen Z men in the U.S. are turning to social media for their health information, according to a recent survey from the Cleveland Clinic.

The survey polled 1,000 U.S. men ages 18 and older over the summer and compared the health concerns of American men from different generations.

“While all generations agree that healthcare providers are a top source for health information and advice, use of other sources varies by age,” according to Cleveland Clinic. “Gen Z men are most likely of all generations to turn to social media.”

Fact-checking health advice online is important, according to experts who spoke to CNBC Make It in April of this year. Here are four signs they shared for spotting health misinformation online.

“So often when we see people fall for false information, they just haven’t taken even a second to do some of these basic checks,” said Dr. Seema Yasmin, author of “What The Fact?!: Finding the Truth in All the Noise,” a guide for media literacy.

Here are a few indicators that a post online is sharing health misinformation, according to Yasmin and Deen Freelon, professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

1. It sounds too good to be true: You should question the accuracy of any health information that includes words like “cure, 100% effective [and] guaranteed,” Yasmin said.
2. It plays at your emotions: Health information posts that prompt emotional responses can be designed that way “to get us to fall for lies,” and share them with others, Yasmin noted. “Falsehoods are often designed to provoke a reaction.”
3. It’s selling a cure that you’ve never heard of, that isn’t backed by science: If you come across a social media post that’s promoting an alternative cure for a condition, Freelon said you should be skeptical about its credibility and double-check that it’s being shared by a reputable health organization. “There are lots of people who have business models that are built on this,” Freelon said.
4. It seems made up: If it “seems a little bit ridiculous, or [like] science fiction really,” then that’s a red flag, Freelon said. “The sorts of things that start to fall apart, when you start asking even the most basic questions.”

Yasmin and Freelon suggest always identifying the source of health information that you come across online. Think about if the source is “really the person who should be speaking on this topic,” Yasmin said, or if they have “a long track record of distributing medically dubious information,” Freelon said.

You should always seek out trusted news sources for health information like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or state health organizations and check to see if they’re reporting similar claims to what you’ve seen online.

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