Patients distrust social media health info, but act on it anyway

Clinical takeaway: Consider engaging patients about health information they are consuming online, including social media, particularly if they are resistant to a sensible clinical approach. Try to listen, stay curious and nonjudgmental, while also providing high-quality, evidence-based patient information resources.

Social media now sits alongside clinicians as a place patients turn to for health information. Earlier surveys mostly counted who used these platforms or how they viewed misinformation, leaving the specific ways people engage with health content largely uncharted. This nationally representative survey mapped that engagement, and found a striking gap: skepticism about online health information runs high, but it does not stop people from acting on it.

Social media use is now close to ubiquitous among US adults, and consuming health-related information on these platforms is the norm rather than the exception. That makes social media a mainstream venue for health information that clinicians should understand to better support their patients.

Most users were skeptical of health information on social media, with 77.7% believing that the health information on these platforms was false or misleading. Even so, more than one in five (21.6%) reported having made a health decision based on social media content, acting on information they were inclined to doubt.

Some users were more inclined to act on social medial health information than others. Older adults (65 and up) and Hispanic users were more likely than their counterparts to report making a health decision based on social media. What users do on these platforms is also broader than acting on advice: most shared their own or general health information, and about seven in 10 joined online health communities organized around conditions or topics.

Making a health decision based on social media did not differ by chronic disease status. People managing a cardiometabolic, respiratory, or mental health condition or cancer were no more likely to act on platform content than those without, suggesting this behavior extends well beyond patients using social media to supplement their care.

The findings come from the 2024 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS), a nationally representative survey of US adults. Among 7,278 respondents, analyses of health engagement were restricted to the 6,002 who reported using social media in the past year. The authors examined four engagement types, including sharing content, joining online communities, making health decisions, and perceiving misinformation, using survey-weighted regression across demographic subgroups.

The gap between distrust and action is the practical gist. If patients act on health information they already doubt, simply flagging social media as unreliable is unlikely to change their behavior. The more useful response may be to ask what patients are seeing and to offer credible sources to weigh against it, rather than to assume skepticism is doing that work on its own.

"Social media is a key component of the health information environment for US adults with and without chronic conditions, highlighting the need for approaches to enhance the accuracy of health content and counter artificial intelligence–amplified misinformation," said Aline Pedroso, PhD, of the Yale School of Medicine.

Source: Pedroso AF, et al. (2026 Jun 30) JAMA. Use of social media for health information among US adults