Nutrition tips from influencers on the social web should be treated with the utmost caution. Sociologist Naomi Smith from the University of the Sunshine Coast and Justine Topham from Federation University attention to this. Through a systematic investigation, they found potentially dangerous misinformation in YouTube videos that repeatedly debunked myths about detoxification and cleansing the body.
Continued spread of fake nutrition tips
Misinformation that the researchers took from 84 diet videos was presented in a way that suggested expert knowledge or scientific credibility based on personal experience. “These types of wellness videos also play a large role in public perceptions of health and risk management, leading to the continued spread of misinformation,” says Smith.
“People may think that health misinformation is easy to spot, but our research shows that it is quite difficult, especially for those who care deeply about their body weight, look good, feel good and want to change their diet. “What I’m eating today videos may be entertaining and seem sensible or scientific, but they should not be construed as health advice,” Smith said.
Google is simply overwhelmed
The experts' work provides insight into how easily misinformation spreads online. “Understanding how this happens can help us build better digital literacy skills that enable us to evaluate information online,” Smith points out. The COVID-19 pandemic has made the problem particularly clear.
“YouTube has been the focus of Google’s significant efforts to eliminate misinformation on the platform during the pandemic,” Smith said. Google's policies define misinformation as "serious risks of egregious harm." However, this broad framework allows less dangerous misinformation, for example about detoxifying the body, to continue to circulate on the platform.
Source:
Press release
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1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )