The impact of Facebook's vaccine misinformation policy on user endorsements of vaccine content: An interrupted time series analysis

Harnessing Internet Search Data as a Potential Tool for Medical Diagnosis: Literature Review

BACKGROUND

The integration of information technology into health care has created opportunities to address diagnostic challenges. Internet searches, representing a vast source of health-related data, hold promise for improving early disease detection. Studies suggest that patterns in search behavior can reveal symptoms before clinical diagnosis, offering potential for innovative diagnostic tools. Leveraging advancements in machine learning, researchers have explored linking search data with health records to enhance screening and outcomes. However, challenges like privacy, bias, and scalability remain critical to its widespread adoption.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to explore the potential and challenges of using internet search data in medical diagnosis, with a specific focus on diseases and conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, mental and behavioral health, neurodegenerative disorders, and nutritional and metabolic diseases. We examined ethical, technical, and policy considerations while assessing the current state of research, identifying gaps and limitations, and proposing future research directions to advance this emerging field.

METHODS

We conducted a comprehensive analysis of peer-reviewed literature and informational interviews with subject matter experts to examine the landscape of internet search data use in medical research. We searched for published peer-reviewed literature on the PubMed database between October and December 2023.

RESULTS

Systematic selection based on predefined criteria included 40 articles from the 2499 identified articles. The analysis revealed a nascent domain of internet search data research in medical diagnosis, marked by advancements in analytics and data integration. Despite challenges such as bias, privacy, and infrastructure limitations, emerging initiatives could reshape data collection and privacy safeguards.

CONCLUSIONS

We identified signals correlating with diagnostic considerations in certain diseases and conditions, indicating the potential for such data to enhance clinical diagnostic capabilities. However, leveraging internet search data for improved early diagnosis and health care outcomes requires effectively addressing ethical, technical, and policy challenges. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, advancing infrastructure development, and prioritizing patient engagement and consent, researchers can unlock the transformative potential of internet search data in medical diagnosis to ultimately enhance patient care and advance health care practice and policy.

The efficacy of Facebook's vaccine misinformation policies and architecture during the COVID-19 pandemic

Online misinformation promotes distrust in science, undermines public health, and may drive civil unrest. During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, Facebook-the world's largest social media company-began to remove vaccine misinformation as a matter of policy. We evaluated the efficacy of these policies using a comparative interrupted time-series design. We found that Facebook removed some antivaccine content, but we did not observe decreases in overall engagement with antivaccine content. Provaccine content was also removed, and antivaccine content became more misinformative, more politically polarized, and more likely to be seen in users' newsfeeds. We explain these findings as a consequence of Facebook's system architecture, which provides substantial flexibility to motivated users who wish to disseminate misinformation through multiple channels. Facebook's architecture may therefore afford antivaccine content producers several means to circumvent the intent of misinformation removal policies.

Using Technology to Overcome Vaccine Hesitancy

Technology holds great potential to address many vaccine hesitancy determinants and support vaccine uptake given its ability to amplify positive messages, support knowledge, and enhance providers' recommendations. Modalities previously implemented with variable success have included automated reminder systems, decision support for clinicians, online education programs, social media campaigns, and virtual reality curricula. Further research is needed to identify the optimal uses of technology at the patient/parent and provider levels to overcome vaccine hesitancy. The most effective interventions will likely be multipronged providing patients, parents, and providers with information related to vaccine status.

The Role of Conspiracy Theories, Perceived Risk, and Trust in Science on COVID-19 Vaccination Decisiveness: Evidence from Cyprus

COVID-19 reminded us of the importance of vaccinating for successfully overcoming health-related crises. Yet, vaccine hesitancy is still present. This study examined the impacts of conspiracy theories, perceived risk, and trust in science on COVID-19 vaccination decisiveness. The study was conducted at the end of the third wave of the pandemic, in July 2021, in Cyprus. Data were collected via an online self-administered anonymous survey using convenience and snowball sampling methods. Participants were 363 adults who completed a set of questionnaires that examined their believability in ten vaccine-related conspiracy theories, their perceived dangerousness of COVID-19, and their level of trust in science and scientists. The results suggest that (a) participants with a high conspiracy theory belief are less likely to be vaccinated, (b) participants who perceive COVID-19 as a dangerous disease are more likely to be vaccinated, and (c) participants with high trust in science are more likely to be vaccinated. The implications of the findings are discussed and can be used by public health officials in their campaigns.

From Facebook to YouTube: The Potential Exposure to COVID-19 Anti-Vaccine Videos on Social Media

This article examines the role of Facebook and YouTube in potentially exposing people to COVID-19 vaccine-related misinformation. Specifically, to study the potential level of exposure, the article models a uni-directional information-sharing pathway beginning when a Facebook user encounters a vaccine-related post with a YouTube video, follows this video to YouTube, and then sees a list of related videos automatically recommended by YouTube. The results demonstrate that despite the efforts by Facebook and YouTube, COVID-19 vaccine-related misinformation in the form of anti-vaccine videos propagates on both platforms. Because of these apparent gaps in platform-led initiatives to combat misinformation, public health agencies must be proactive in creating vaccine promotion campaigns that are highly visible on social media to overtake anti-vaccine videos' prominence in the network. By examining related videos that a user potentially encounters, the article also contributes practical insights to identify influential YouTube channels for public health agencies to collaborate with on their public service announcements about the importance of vaccination programs and vaccine safety.

Digital Media for Behavior Change: Review of an Emerging Field of Study

Digital media are omnipresent in modern life, but the science on the impact of digital media on behavior is still in its infancy. There is an emerging evidence base of how to use digital media for behavior change. Strategies to change behavior implemented using digital technology have included a variety of platforms and program strategies, all of which are potentially more effective with increased frequency, intensity, interactivity, and feedback. It is critical to accelerate the pace of research on digital platforms, including social media, to understand and address its effects on human behavior. The purpose of the current paper is to provide an overview and describe methods in this emerging field, present use cases, describe a future agenda, and raise central questions to be addressed in future digital health research for behavior change. Digital media for behavior change employs three main methods: (1) digital media interventions, (2) formative research using digital media, and (3) digital media used to conduct evaluations. We examine use cases across several content areas including healthy weight management, tobacco control, and vaccination uptake, to describe and illustrate the methods and potential impact of this emerging field of study. In the discussion, we note that digital media interventions need to explore the full range of functionality of digital devices and their near-constant role in personal self-management and day-to-day living to maximize opportunities for behavior change. Future experimental research should rigorously examine the effects of variable levels of engagement with, and frequency and intensity of exposure to, multiple forms of digital media for behavior change.