Recent articles: misinformation and misdirection in health information

Traberg, C.S. et al. (2024). The persuasive effects of social cues and source effects on misinformation susceptibility. Scientific Reports, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-54030-y "The study examines the mechanisms through which social context impacts misinformation susceptibility. The authors found that social cues only impact individual judgements when they influence perceptions of wider social consensus. Essentially, news consumers are less critical of information from sources they believe are credible" 

Ashraf, A., Mackey, T. & Fittler, A. (2024) Search Engines and Generative Artificial Intelligence Integration: Public Health Risks and Recommendations to Safeguard Consumers Online. JMIR Public Health & Surveillance, 10, article e53086. https://doi.org/10.2196/53086 "With the online pharmacy market growing, search engine providers have started integrating generative artificial intelligence (AI) into search engine interfaces, which could revolutionize search by delivering more personalized results through a user-friendly experience. As such this study looks to identify, determine the prevalence of, and characterize illegal online pharmacy recommendations within the AI-generated search results and recommendations." "19.04% (24/126) of Bing Chat’s and 13.23% (18/136) of Google SGE’s recommendations directed users to illegal vendors, including for controlled substances."
Photo by Sheila Webber: takeaway coffee on the beach, June 2024