Fentanyl panic goes viral: The spread of misinformation about overdose risk from casual contact with fentanyl in mainstream and social media

Leo Beletsky; Sarah Seymour; Sunyou Kang; Zachary Siegel; Michael S Sinha; Ryan Marino; Aashka Dave; Clark Freifeld

doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.102951

Fentanyl panic goes viral: The spread of misinformation about overdose risk from casual contact with fentanyl in mainstream and social media

Int J Drug Policy. 2020 Sep 16:86:102951. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.102951. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Leo Beletsky¹, Sarah Seymour², Sunyou Kang³, Zachary Siegel², Michael S Sinha⁴, Ryan Marino⁵, Aashka Dave⁶, Clark Freifeld⁷

Affiliations

¹ Health in Justice Action Lab, School of Law and College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States; Division of Infectious Disease and Global Public Health, UC San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, California, United States; Center for Health Policy and Law, Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, MA, United States. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Health in Justice Action Lab, School of Law and College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States.
³ Health in Justice Action Lab, School of Law and College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States; Division of Infectious Disease and Global Public Health, UC San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, California, United States.
⁴ Harvard-MIT Center for Regulatory Science, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA, United States; Center for Health Policy and Law, Northeastern University School of Law, Boston, MA, United States.
⁵ Division of Medical Toxicology, Department of Emergency Medicine, University Hospitals, Cleveland, OH, United States.
⁶ Center for Civic Media, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, United States.
⁷ Khoury College of Computer Sciences, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, United States.

Abstract

Background: Fueled by misinformation, fentanyl panic has harmed public health through complicating overdose rescue while rationalizing hyper-punitive criminal laws, wasteful expenditures, and proposals to curtail vital access to pain pharmacotherapy. To assess misinformation about health risk from casual contact with fentanyl, we characterize its diffusion and excess visibility in mainstream and social media.

Methods: We used Media Cloud to compile and characterize mainstream and social media content published between January 2015 and September 2019 on overdose risk from casual fentanyl exposure.

Results: Relevant content appeared in 551 news articles spanning 48 states. Misinformed media reports received approximately 450,000 Facebook shares, potentially reaching nearly 70,000,000 users from 2015-2019. Amplified by erroneous government statements, misinformation received excess social media visibility by a factor of 15 compared to corrective content, which garnered fewer than 30,000 shares with potential reach of 4,600,000 Facebook users.

Conclusion: Health-related misinformation continues to proliferate online, hampering responses to public health crises. More evidence-informed tools are needed to effectively challenge misinformed narratives in mainstream and social media.

Keywords: Fentanyl; Health misinformation; Law enforcement; Overdose.