Public Health in the Information Age: Recognizing the Infosphere as a Social Determinant of Health.

Publisher: JMIR Publications Country of Publication: Canada NLM ID: 100959882 Publication Model: Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1438-8871 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 14388871 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Med Internet Res Subsets: MEDLINE

Publication: <2011- > : Toronto : JMIR Publications
Original Publication: [Pittsburgh, PA? : s.n., 1999-

Internet* ; Public Health* ; Social Determinants of Health*; COVID-19 ; Communication ; Coronavirus Infections/epidemiology ; Health Education ; Humans ; Pandemics ; Pneumonia, Viral/epidemiology ; Social Media

Since 2016, social media companies and news providers have come under pressure to tackle the spread of political mis- and disinformation (MDI) online. However, despite evidence that online health MDI (on the web, on social media, and within mobile apps) also has negative real-world effects, there has been a lack of comparable action by either online service providers or state-sponsored public health bodies. We argue that this is problematic and seek to answer three questions: why has so little been done to control the flow of, and exposure to, health MDI online; how might more robust action be justified; and what specific, newly justified actions are needed to curb the flow of, and exposure to, online health MDI? In answering these questions, we show that four ethical concerns-related to paternalism, autonomy, freedom of speech, and pluralism-are partly responsible for the lack of intervention. We then suggest that these concerns can be overcome by relying on four arguments: (1) education is necessary but insufficient to curb the circulation of health MDI, (2) there is precedent for state control of internet content in other domains, (3) network dynamics adversely affect the spread of accurate health information, and (4) justice is best served by protecting those susceptible to inaccurate health information. These arguments provide a strong case for classifying the quality of the infosphere as a social determinant of health, thus making its protection a public health responsibility. In addition, they offer a strong justification for working to overcome the ethical concerns associated with state-led intervention in the infosphere to protect public health.
(©Jessica Morley, Josh Cowls, Mariarosaria Taddeo, Luciano Floridi. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 03.08.2020.)

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Keywords: COVID-19; disinformation; infodemic; infodemiology; information ethics; infosphere; misinformation; public health; social determinants of health

Date Created: 20200711 Date Completed: 20200810 Latest Revision: 20240731

20240731

PMC7402642

10.2196/19311

32648850