Social media is widely used globally by patients, families of patients, health professionals, scientists, and other stakeholders who seek and share information related to cancer. Despite many benefits of social media for cancer care and research, there is also a substantial risk of exposure to misinformation, or inaccurate information about cancer. Types of misinformation vary from inaccurate information about cancer risk factors or unproven treatment options to conspiracy theories and public relations articles or advertisements appearing as reliable medical content. Many characteristics of social media networks—such as their extensive use and the relative ease it allows to share information quickly—facilitate the spread of misinformation. Research shows that inaccurate and misleading health-related posts on social media often get more views and engagement (e.g., likes, shares) from users compared with accurate information. Exposure to misinformation can have downstream implications for health-related attitudes and behaviors. However, combatting misinformation is a complex process that requires engagement from media platforms, scientific and health experts, governmental organizations, and the general public. Cancer experts, for example, should actively combat misinformation in real time and should disseminate evidence-based content on social media. Health professionals should give information prescriptions to patients and families and support health literacy. Patients and families should vet the quality of cancer information before acting upon it (e.g., by using publicly available checklists) and seek recommended resources from health care providers and trusted organizations. Future multidisciplinary research is needed to identify optimal ways of building resilience and combating misinformation across social media.

中文翻译：

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社交媒体上的癌症错误信息


社交媒体在全球范围内被患者、患者家属、卫生专业人员、科学家和其他寻求和分享癌症相关信息的利益相关者广泛使用。尽管社交媒体对癌症护理和研究有很多好处，但也存在接触有关癌症的错误信息或不准确信息的巨大风险。错误信息的类型多种多样，从有关癌症风险因素或未经证实的治疗方案的不准确信息，到阴谋论和公共关系文章或看似可靠的医疗内容的广告。社交媒体网络的许多特征——例如其广泛使用和相对容易地快速共享信息——促进了错误信息的传播。研究表明，与准确的信息相比，社交媒体上不准确和误导性的健康相关帖子通常会获得更多的用户浏览和参与（例如点赞、分享）。接触错误信息可能会对健康相关的态度和行为产生下游影响。然而，打击错误信息是一个复杂的过程，需要媒体平台、科学和健康专家、政府组织和公众的参与。例如，癌症专家应积极实时打击错误信息，并应在社交媒体上传播基于证据的内容。卫生专业人员应向患者和家属提供信息处方并支持健康素养。患者和家属应在采取行动之前审查癌症信息的质量（例如，通过使用公开的检查表），并从医疗保健提供者和值得信赖的组织寻求推荐的资源。 未来需要进行多学科研究，以确定增强复原力和打击社交媒体上的错误信息的最佳方法。