Health Misinformation in Search and Social Media

Amira Ghenai

Abstract: People regularly use web search and social media to investigate health related issues. This type of Internet data might contain misinformation i.e. incorrect information which contradicts current established medical understanding. If people are influenced by the presented misinformation in these sources, they can make harmful decisions about their health. My research goal is to investigate the effect of Internet data on people's health. Working with my colleagues on this topic, our current findings suggest that there is a potential for people to be harmed by search engine results. Furthermore, we successfully built a high precision approach to track misinformation in social media. In this paper, I briefly discuss my current work including background key references. Thereafter, I propose a research plan to understand possible mechanisms of misinformation's effect on people and its possible impacts on public health. Later, I will explain the suggested research methodology to achieve the research plan.