Cancer Misinformation and Harmful Information on Facebook and Other Social Media: A Brief Report

Skyler B Johnson; Matthew Parsons; Tanya Dorff; Meena S Moran; John H Ward; Stacey A Cohen; Wallace Akerley; Jessica Bauman; Joleen Hubbard; Daniel E Spratt; Carma L Bylund; Briony Swire-Thompson; Tracy Onega; Laura D Scherer; Jonathan Tward; Angela Fagerlin

doi:10.1093/jnci/djab141

Cancer Misinformation and Harmful Information on Facebook and Other Social Media: A Brief Report

J Natl Cancer Inst. 2022 Jul 11;114(7):1036-1039. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djab141.

Authors

Skyler B Johnson^{1

2}, Matthew Parsons¹, Tanya Dorff^{3

4}, Meena S Moran⁵, John H Ward⁶, Stacey A Cohen^{7

8}, Wallace Akerley⁹, Jessica Bauman¹⁰, Joleen Hubbard¹¹, Daniel E Spratt¹², Carma L Bylund^{13

14}, Briony Swire-Thompson^{15

16}, Tracy Onega¹⁷, Laura D Scherer^{18

19}, Jonathan Tward¹, Angela Fagerlin^{17

20}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
² Cancer Control and Population Sciences, Huntsman Cancer Institute, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
³ Department of Medical Oncology and Developmental, Therapeutics, City of Hope, Duarte, CA, USA.
⁴ Department of Medicine, University of Southern California (USC) Keck School of Medicine and Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center (NCCC), Los Angeles, CA, USA.
⁵ Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
⁶ Oncology Division, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
⁷ Division of Oncology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁸ Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁹ Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Hematology/Oncology, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
¹¹ Department of Medical Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.
¹² Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA.
¹³ Division of Hematology and Oncology, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Public Relations, College of Journalism and Communications, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
¹⁵ Network Science Institute, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
¹⁶ Institute for Quantitative Social Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Population Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Colorado, Denver, CO, USA.
¹⁹ VA Denver Center of Innovation, Denver, CO, USA.
²⁰ VA Salt Lake City Health Care System, Salt Lake City, UT, USA.

Abstract

There are few data on the quality of cancer treatment information available on social media. Here, we quantify the accuracy of cancer treatment information on social media and its potential for harm. Two cancer experts reviewed 50 of the most popular social media articles on each of the 4 most common cancers. The proportion of misinformation and potential for harm were reported for all 200 articles and their association with the number of social media engagements using a 2-sample Wilcoxon rank-sum test. All statistical tests were 2-sided. Of 200 total articles, 32.5% (n = 65) contained misinformation and 30.5% (n = 61) contained harmful information. Among articles containing misinformation, 76.9% (50 of 65) contained harmful information. The median number of engagements for articles with misinformation was greater than factual articles (median [interquartile range] = 2300 [1200-4700] vs 1600 [819-4700], P = .05). The median number of engagements for articles with harmful information was statistically significantly greater than safe articles (median [interquartile range] = 2300 [1400-4700] vs 1500 [810-4700], P = .007).

Cancer Misinformation and Harmful Information on Facebook and Other Social Media: A Brief Report

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Grants and funding