Study: Social media helps perpetuate misinformation about antimicrobial resistance

June 30, 2016

People who are active in posting and sharing information on social media can perpetuate misinformation about antimicrobial resistance (AMR), according to a team of researchers from the Division of Emerging Media Studies at Boston University. The study also suggested that this distribution of misinformation may indirectly lead to the misuse of antibiotics.

Dr. Jacob Groshek, assistant professor of Emerging Media Studies, and Serena Bronda, a master's candidate in Emerging Media Studies, wrote about their research in The Conversation. From the article:

In a nationwide survey, we found that the more frequently respondents reported posting and sharing any information online to social media, they were increasingly likely to be highly misinformed about AMR. This suggests that those individuals most active in contributing to social media were actually propagating inaccurate information.

According to the researchers, traditional media use — television, talk radio, newspapers — was also related to higher levels of AMR misinformation.

Traditional media exposure, it seems, can be a source of AMR misinformation. Increased posting of content to social media reinforces misinformation, and in our study those higher levels of AMR misinformation are shown to increase the likelihood that individuals will misuse antibiotics.

Watch highlights of the research in the video below.