The Health Misinformation Crisis: Why We’re Turning to TikTok Instead of Doctors

I haven’t had a consistent primary care doctor since I turned 18 and moved on from the pediatrician I’d seen since birth. Though I get a yearly physical, it’s typically with a new doctor every time, depending on my location, who’s available, my insurance and which office picks up the phone—usually after several calls and endless hold music. Timely appointments are tough to come by, so if I need more immediate attention, I’ll head to an urgent care.

When I finally do get to see a doctor, it’s a cold, clinical experience in a white cube of a room, more often than not with a doctor who’s a stranger.

Compare that to wellness influencers effortlessly floating across your phone screen, making longevity, happiness, less bloating, glowing skin, long hair and a strong immune system seem as easy as taking a supplement with your lemon water. Answers to our pressing medical questions have never been so convenient and alluring.

Many Americans face similar struggles accessing quality healthcare information and providers. According to a 2023 study by the National Association of Community Health Centers and HealthLandscape, over 100 million Americans—about one-third of the U.S. population—face barriers to accessing primary care. Even more concerning, this number has almost doubled since 2014.

The Crisis in Primary Care

Dr. Mike Varshavski, a board-certified family medicine physician with over 29 million social media followers, says multiple factors have contributed to healthcare’s inability to provide people the answers they seek. These include solo practice family medicine physician offices closing or being bought out, fallen reimbursement rates by insurance companies, and the administrative burden facing family medicine physicians.

Family medicine is one of the lowest-paying specialties, making students less inclined to pursue it. By 2037, the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis estimates there will be a shortage of 87,150 full-time equivalent primary care physicians, with non-metropolitan areas particularly affected.

The obstacles to accessing primary care also loom larger for women and BIPOC communities, particularly Black women, who are more likely to experience medical gaslighting, making them less likely to trust a doctor in the future.

Eroding Trust in Healthcare Institutions

Trust is a significant difficulty when accessing healthcare. “Survey data indicates that trust in institutionalized expertise has been in decline in the U.S. since the 1950s,” says Stephanie Alice Baker, associate professor of sociology at City St George’s, University of London. “Throughout the late 20th century, a series of scandals involving the pharmaceutical and food industries has sown distrust about the financial and political motives of scientific and medical institutions.”

This distrust was further cemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Pew Research Center, confidence in scientists acting in the public’s best interests dipped by 14% between April 2020 and fall 2023.

The Rise of Wellness Influencers

Meanwhile, tens of millions of videos on platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram feature people whose lives have allegedly been improved by a wellness ritual or product. Collectively, they promote all aspects of wellness, a multi-trillion-dollar industry encompassing mental wellness, healthy eating, physical activity, wellness tourism, weight loss, homeopathic and naturopathic alternative medicine, personal care, beauty, and more.

But these videos don’t always have your best interests in mind. There’s a wide spectrum of creators and motivations, ranging from medical professionals with corporate sponsorships to those with dubious intentions—influencers with little or no medical training who accept gifts or run ads for the companies whose products they’re promoting.

“What wellness influencers do very well is make it seem like if you do X, you will be healthier,” says Jessica B. Steier, who holds a doctorate in public health and is the founder of Unbiased Science. “It makes people feel like they have a ton of control over their health, and that’s empowering.”

When Misinformation Goes Viral

Wellness influencers’ misinformation can have devastating consequences. Belle Gibson, an Australian wellness influencer whose story inspired the Apple Cider Vinegar series on Netflix, lied about having terminal brain cancer in 2013, claiming she was healing herself naturally with a healthy diet. She launched a wellness app and cookbook, earning half a million dollars in less than two years.

Fitness influencer Brian Johnson, known as Liver King, promoted consuming raw animal organs and supplements from his $100 million annual business as the path to a muscular physique. In 2022, leaked emails revealed he had been using steroids and human growth hormone.

In some cases, following influencers’ advice has proven fatal. Paloma Shemirani died at 23 from a heart attack caused by an untreated tumor after refusing chemotherapy in favor of alternative treatments recommended by her mother, a conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine influencer.

Why We Trust Influencers Over Doctors

The Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report on Trust and Health found that people consider someone a legitimate health expert not only when they have academic training but also when they have personal experience with health issues.

“People trust information from people who are similar to them or at least can empathize with their own cultural or personal experiences,” says Dr. Garth Graham, director of healthcare partnerships at YouTube and Google Health.

Among the 73% of Edelman report participants who see a clinician regularly, 53% feel that their doctor is “slightly or not qualified” to care for all their health problems. If their doctor can’t address an issue, 65% turn to non-institutional sources like friends, family, online searches, and social media.

According to a 2023 KFF health information tracking poll, 55% of adults use social media to access health information and advice at least occasionally, with higher percentages among young adults and Black and Latino communities. Edelman reports that young people aged 18 to 34 were twice as likely to listen to uncredentialed advice as adults over 55. At least once, 58% of people in this age group said they regretted a health decision they made based on misinformation.

The Technology and Tactics Behind Wellness Influencers

Wellness influencers have mastered social media algorithms and techniques to build trust and engagement. “People spend about 2 hours a day on their phones on social media… They see influencers who look approachable and relatable,” says Dr. Zachary Rubin, a pediatric allergist with nearly 4 million followers. “They start to develop this parasocial relationship where they think they actually know this person when, really, they don’t.”

Influencers speak with authority and confidence, provide easy solutions to complex problems, and oversimplify nuanced information. Baker describes “the three A’s (the impression of authenticity, accessibility, and autonomy) as central to how influencers establish trust and intimacy with their followers.”

Andrew Pattison of the World Health Organization notes, “To create misinformation takes minutes. To debunk misinformation sometimes takes weeks. To create good health content takes time, effort, knowledge, and research, whereas to create health misinformation, you can do it in 5 minutes and all you need is a phone.”

Fighting Back: Medicine Meets Media

In response, medical professionals are adopting some of the same tactics. WHO created Fides, a network of over 1,200 health professionals who produce evidence-based content. The initiative offers creators health information, assets, and training from tech companies like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and LinkedIn on topics such as safety tools and handling online trolls.

“The idea is to create a movement similar to the antivax movement, which is small but very powerful, well-coordinated, and well-funded,” says Pattison. In 2021, the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that 12 anti-vaxxers were responsible for up to 65% of anti-vaccine content on Facebook and Twitter.

Dr. Varshavski also adapted influencer tactics to spread high-quality health information. “Titling, thumbnailing and being comedic, self-deprecating, and entertaining needed to come first in order for the medical information to land,” he explains.

The Real Cost of Following Wellness Trends

A February 2023 study by the University of Sydney focused on Instagram and TikTok posts highlighting five popular medical tests: full-body MRIs, multicancer early detection genetic tests, antimullerian hormone tests for women’s egg counts, gut microbiome tests, and testosterone tests. Around 70% of people promoting these tests had a direct financial interest in them, despite no evidence of benefit.

“It creates so many inequities in the health care system, and it really plays on this emotion of early detection and early screening in the hope of living your best life,” says Brooke Nickel, one of the study’s authors.

Mallory DeMille, who calls out problematic wellness influencers online, has heard stories of people declining essential medical treatments based on influencer advice. “The best that can happen is you lose money, time, and energy,” she says. “The real harm is that someone is influenced by these parasocial relationships they have online to forgo evidence-based treatment or healthcare, should they need it.”

What Can Be Done?

Social media platforms have implemented various policies to combat misinformation, with varying effectiveness. YouTube Health features content from verified medical experts, making evidence-based health information more accessible.

Experts emphasize that tech companies have the resources to protect users from misinformation while benefiting their businesses. “Let’s put technology, intelligence, large resources, and common sense from the health industry together to find solutions,” says Pattison.

As consumers, we need to think critically about wellness content, get second opinions, check credentials, and look for sponsorship disclosures. We should also recognize why people turn to social media for health information in the first place—because they don’t have access to trusted healthcare providers.

Between navigating misinformation and accessing our current healthcare system, frustration is natural. However, we must continue thinking critically about the content we consume and pursuing the truth. After all, searching for health answers represents our basic human desires: a need for control, fear of mortality, and the will to live—feelings we all share.

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