Post-pandemic health consciousness has expanded the audience for health misinformation, making it crucial to enhance public literacy and reduce medical costs.

“In many ways, since people have become more health-conscious after the pandemic, health misinformation peddlers have a larger target audience today.”

Many years ago, when my mother found out that she had liver and kidney dysfunction, her instinct was to protect her family from the pain and agony. She sought solace in pseudo-scientific practices, half-baked diets, and dubious medicines. What killed her was not the illness, but the lies peddled by those who make a living out of people’s anguish. 

Health misinformation never dies; it persists indefinitely. In the post-COVID era, the prevalence of dangerous remedies for the infection may have diminished, but we still see new trends emerge in misinformation, particularly regarding vaccines, nutrition and healthy lifestyle choices. For instance, some social media influencers claim that oats consumption is toxic, while others suggest that fasting for several days is the best way to lose weight. And it’s not just COVID vaccines that are dangerous, but all vaccines are harmful to humans, warn the anti-vaxxers. 

WhatsApp is often the first platform in India to spread health misinformation rapidly, followed by Facebook. YouTube and Instagram, on the other hand, tend to promote more food-related misinformation.

In many ways, since people have become more health-conscious after the pandemic, health misinformation peddlers have a larger target audience today. In today’s day and age, people seem to have accepted misinformation via WhatsApp forwards and social media posts as a way of life. As one of my techie friends puts it, “When people consume too much information, misinformation is inevitable”. Another friend put it more poetically – “When we open the windows for some fresh air, some dust is bound to come in too”.

In the past, people sought health information from trusted sources, such as doctors, medical experts, or even spiritual gurus. However, in today’s digital age, social media influencers have the largest following! These influencers often prioritise gaining more views over providing accurate health information, making it challenging for fact-checkers to combat misinformation effectively. 

Addressing this widespread misinformation demands two things – enhancing public health literacy and reducing the costs of medical treatment. High medical costs are the key reason for many hapless people opting for alternative or unverified therapies, based on health misinformation. 

As a health fact-checker, my aspiration is to foster a society free of misinformation. However, I’ve come to realise that achieving this goal is not going to happen anytime soon – but that can’t deter us from doing our job.

This is an excerpt from First Check's Coffee Table Book, you can read the full Coffee Table Book here.

Tej Kumar is a Fact-checker and Researcher at First Check.