JAMA Network September 23, 2022
The spread of false and misleading health information has increased substantially in recent years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, for example, misinformation contributed to the use of unproven treatments, nonadherence to mitigation measures, and high levels of vaccine hesitancy. A study based on counterfactual simulation modeling suggested that higher immunization rates could have prevented nearly half of COVID-19–related deaths in the US between January 1, 2021, and April 30, 2022.1
Many factors have contributed to the spread of medical misinformation and to a broader degradation of the epistemic environment: declining trust in institutions, splintering of the media ecosystem, deepening political polarization, and worsening economic inequality.2 These secular trends have eroded the traditional processes through which society arrives at a common understanding...
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