You can’t open Instagram without seeing someone promising to fix your hormones, clear your skin, or “balance” your body. One swipe, and you’ll find a “hormone expert” blaming your fatigue on seed oils, a wellness coach warning you off sunscreen, and a smiling influencer selling “detox pearls” for your uterus. More information is great — knowledge is power, right? Not always. When it comes to modern wellness, advice is everywhere — but quantity does not equal quality.
Countless studies show that women, especially women of color, are more likely to experience medical gaslighting, leaving them seeking advice outside the traditional, established medical pathways. This is often found online through the spaces that many influencers provide for their followers. Over half of adults (55 percent) use social media for health information, and about one in six (15 percent) regularly rely on influencers for advice.
While some information comes from credible sources, much comes from creators with no credentials, offering guidance that can give women false hope or lead them to unintended harm.
Many social media platforms have introduced tools to combat misinformation, but the problem persists.
The majority of influencers (62 percent) admit they don’t verify information before sharing it, with only 17 percent attempting to assess a source’s credibility beyond popularity. Social media medical misinformation could cost lives, erode trust in healthcare, and fuel predatory marketing of unproven supplements or “cures.”
For example, a 23-year-old woman recently passed away after refusing chemotherapy because she’d been influenced online to take coffee enemas instead. The impact falls heaviest on communities already facing barriers to care.
