These TikTok creators are fighting health myths
Meet the medical experts fighting fake science, one "point" at a time.
“I bet you know at least one girl who uses steroids every day,” begins a young man in a TikTok video.
He looks at the camera, continuing his big, but particularly fake, revelation: "One in three girls these days takes the birth control pill, and believe it or not, the birth control pill is actually an analogue of nandrolone, a bodybuilding steroid."
< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Another face quickly invades the screen. Wearing a white coat, debunker Mustafa Dhahir, a practicing pharmacist and medical student based in Australia, interrupts the video with his own comment: disinformation uses clues of truth to spread their lies. »Mr. Dhahir explains what a steroid is, then explains point-by-point why the original video - which claims oral contraception causes a mix of symptoms, including changes in sexual attraction - is inaccurate. "This guy is just using scare tactics," Mr. Dhahir tells the viewer, noting that there are many birth control options with different sets of side effects.
@pharmustafa #myth #fyp #misinformation #pharmacist #doctor #pharmacy #medicine #health #contraception ♬ original sound - Mustafa DMr. Dhahir is part of a growing cohort of scientists, doctors, medical professionals and academics who are debunking health misinformation on TikTok by "collating" videos, which involves cutting existing videos into new ones. , then to offer his own contribution. While social media platforms, including TikTok, have developed systems for flagging vaccine misinformation, a sea of other dubious health claims often go unreviewed — except when individual users like him, who have real medical knowledge, push back.
"Misinformation impacts medical decisions and health," said Dhahir, who began responding to the false claims on TikTok at the start of the pandemic and has since amassed 9.5 million likes on his videos. He denied claims that birth control makes women infertile, that only "natural" medicine is trustworthy, and that Tylenol is linked to autism.
The work is often exhausting. Unqualified influencers who post misinformation far outnumber expert debunkers, who are often harassed by other users for their efforts. “For every great creator who is truly backed by evidence, you have 50 or 60 great creators spreading misinformation,” said Dr Idrees Mughal, a UK-based doctor with an additional master's degree in nutritional research, whose account, @dr_idz, has 1 million followers. It debunks fad diets, unsubstantiated claims that food ingredients are "carcinogenic" and the myth that...
Meet the medical experts fighting fake science, one "point" at a time.
“I bet you know at least one girl who uses steroids every day,” begins a young man in a TikTok video.
He looks at the camera, continuing his big, but particularly fake, revelation: "One in three girls these days takes the birth control pill, and believe it or not, the birth control pill is actually an analogue of nandrolone, a bodybuilding steroid."
< p class="css-at9mc1 evys1bk0">Another face quickly invades the screen. Wearing a white coat, debunker Mustafa Dhahir, a practicing pharmacist and medical student based in Australia, interrupts the video with his own comment: disinformation uses clues of truth to spread their lies. »Mr. Dhahir explains what a steroid is, then explains point-by-point why the original video - which claims oral contraception causes a mix of symptoms, including changes in sexual attraction - is inaccurate. "This guy is just using scare tactics," Mr. Dhahir tells the viewer, noting that there are many birth control options with different sets of side effects.
@pharmustafa #myth #fyp #misinformation #pharmacist #doctor #pharmacy #medicine #health #contraception ♬ original sound - Mustafa DMr. Dhahir is part of a growing cohort of scientists, doctors, medical professionals and academics who are debunking health misinformation on TikTok by "collating" videos, which involves cutting existing videos into new ones. , then to offer his own contribution. While social media platforms, including TikTok, have developed systems for flagging vaccine misinformation, a sea of other dubious health claims often go unreviewed — except when individual users like him, who have real medical knowledge, push back.
"Misinformation impacts medical decisions and health," said Dhahir, who began responding to the false claims on TikTok at the start of the pandemic and has since amassed 9.5 million likes on his videos. He denied claims that birth control makes women infertile, that only "natural" medicine is trustworthy, and that Tylenol is linked to autism.
The work is often exhausting. Unqualified influencers who post misinformation far outnumber expert debunkers, who are often harassed by other users for their efforts. “For every great creator who is truly backed by evidence, you have 50 or 60 great creators spreading misinformation,” said Dr Idrees Mughal, a UK-based doctor with an additional master's degree in nutritional research, whose account, @dr_idz, has 1 million followers. It debunks fad diets, unsubstantiated claims that food ingredients are "carcinogenic" and the myth that...
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