Spread of health-related fake news in Tamil social media - A pilot study

Fake news is a type of propaganda that consists of deliberate misinformation or hoaxes spread through traditional print and broadcast news media or online social media. Fake news concerning health subject is not a new phenomenon - its roots are probably as old as healthcare itself. This study aims to measure the volume of shares concerning health-related fake news in Tamil language social media. Analysis was performed employing the BuzzFeed Enterprise Application available through its website. BuzzFeed is a social media analytics and curation tool for content marketers. The data were obtained for 15 most commonly shared pages concerning four keywords, namely vaccinations, oral cancer, gum disease, and dental caries from May 1, 2018, to May 15, 2018, in Tamil language, the local vernacular. The topic most contaminated with fake news was vaccinations (80%) followed by oral cancer and gum disease (both in 60%). Altogether, links containing fake news were shared 272 times in 15 days and accounted for 40% of the studied material. Action could be taken to scientifically evaluate sources of the most frequently shared medical myths. As shown above, some topics were generally free of fake news, whereas others were extremely biased and filled with fallacies. Thus, an extensive educational campaign (not only in social media) for the latter should be implemented.