Social media influencers are ‘fearmongering’ to promote health tests with limited evidence, study finds

The gut microbiome test is among five tests researchers analysed that are promoted heavily on social media despite limited evidence of benefits for generally healthy people. Photograph: Science Photo Library/Alamy

Influencers are appealing to emotional narratives around health and often “fearmongering” to promote controversial medical tests on social media, a new study has found, in ways that are overwhelmingly misleading and fail to mention potential harms.

The research, led by the University of Sydney and published on Thursday in the American Medical Association’s open access journal JAMA Network Open, investigated five tests being discussed on social media despite limited evidence of their benefits for generally healthy people and concerns about overdiagnosis.