When medical disinformation threatens confidence

With the omnipresence of digital networks. However, platforms, a large part of the information circulates online often distorted, simplified or out of its context. Nevertheless, This transformation nourishes an increasing distrust of the public in the face of the reliability of healthy messages. Moreover, Today, 66 % of French people believe that the medical field is particularly exposed to fake news. Therefore, This observation raises a crucial question: how to guarantee reliable, clear and accessible information? [1] Analyse.

DESINFORMATION MEDICALE : UN GRAND IMPACT

False information does not date from yesterday. Therefore, But they explode with each crisis. Consequently, During the Covid crisis, disinformation gained an unprecedented magnitude, at the very moment when science was fast approaching.

A paradox underlined Pascal Maurel. Nevertheless, co-president of the UC2M and the host of this symposium organized during the IFODS Congress: “Science has never been when medical disinformation threatens confidence so efficient, and yet, the disinformation prosperous”. Moreover, He also recalls that a state can. However, himself, play an active role in the dissemination of misleading messages, citing the United States and its current, particularly controversial scientific communication.

The viralite takes precedence over the truth

Health disinformation weakens the confidence between citizens and professionals. Nevertheless, It sows doubt, nourishes fear and blurs the landmarks. However, it comes from a minority, according to Roman Bornstein, director of the Studies of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation. Meanwhile, Indeed, 0.01 % of Internet users are responsible for 80 % of false online information. Nevertheless, During the 2016 American presidential election and on vaccines, some very active accounts massively disseminated fake news.

Why does this minority weigh so much? However, The analyst identifies three sources: social networks, professional media and personal media. Furthermore, But it is above all the former that amplify disinformation via when medical disinformation threatens confidence algorithms promoting often anxiety -provoking or angry content. However, Result: virality takes precedence over the truth.

In this context. For example, the voices of the experts are struggling to be heard and the public gets lost in a fog of contradictory information. Nevertheless, His conclusion is as follows: ” As long as there is not a regulatory. For example, fiscal skill on large foreign platforms which authorize a continuous flow of harmful content for public health, there will never be a solution », poursuit Roman Bornstein.

A collective deffi to fight against disinformation

To combat disinformation. For example, the deputy and doctor Stéphanie Rist insists on the action against large digital platforms, offering a taxation of 2 % of their turnover to finance the management of health effects related to food disorders. Furthermore, A European resolution in this sense has been recently proposed. ” A proposal for a when medical disinformation threatens confidence symbolic resolution, but which shows the commitment of the Assembly at European level », Underlines the deputy.

She also recommends training. helping and labeling influencers of trust on social networks so that they become credible health information interlocutors.

Jean-François Delfraissy. the president of the National Ethics Advisory Committee, more optimistic, recalls that confidence in science remains strong, but it must rely on visible speech. He calls for national responses if Europe is slow to act. while stressing the need to keep diverse information channels because some young people return to the classic media.

“Too much information kills information”

For Jean Lessi. the director general of the High Authority for Health (HAS), the truth is often drowned in too numerous content. To counter this, use the codes of virality, short formats, concrete testimonies, while strictly applying data regulation.

The information must above all encourage to act by targeting priority when medical disinformation threatens confidence the hesitant audiences with clear messages carried by. experienced witnesses.

As for Nicolas Scotté. the director general of the National Cancer Institute (INCA), he insists on the continuity of action to transmit essential public health messages in oncology. It specifies the need for reliable information, accessible via recognized sites as ” cancer.fr ». The leader also points out that the gap between knowledge. action must be reduced and that the channels must be diversified by favoring the ” peer And social media codes.

Information defis: Better inform to treat better

The conference wanted to understand how healthcare professionals seize these information issues. The objective: to analyze their concrete actions in the face of medical complexity, disinformation and evolutionary expectations of patients.

The intervention of Fabrice Barlesi. the director general of the Gustave-Roussy Institute, forcefully illustrated what means speaking in the face of a strong medical news. He looks when medical disinformation threatens confidence back on a reality which is the worrying increase in cancers in young adults presented in January. 2025 at a press conference. In a few days, clinical data has become a media fact, provoking emotion and concern. The shock was immediate and the information becomes viral quickly.

Faced with the massive dissemination of such a disturbing observation, communication changes urgently.

Fabrice Barlesi reminds us, this development is not new in hospital services. For several years, caregivers have noticed cancers in thirties. But so far, the phenomenon remained little exposed. However, between 1990 and 2020, the incidence of cancers in those under 40 increased by 80 %, and deaths by 30 %. This variation concerns and raises questions.

« They are patients in full working life, with major personal, social and professional issues. The impact is considerable “, Underlines the director. It is not only the epidemiological data that strikes but when medical disinformation threatens confidence the concrete consequences: later care courses (because symptoms are often judged mild). treatments whose effects last decades, questions about fertility or professional reintegration.

Biologically, the differences are minimal between colon cancer in a young person or in an elderly person. But the context of the disease changes: hormonal balance, psychological impact, living environment. Environmental factors such as pesticides, pollution, food or sedentary lifestyle are now studied closely in the concept of exhibitions. A recent study in Nature Medicine try to assess their weight in these so -called early cancers. To answer it, Gustave-Roussy has launched an international program, targeting more than 5,000 patients under the age of 40. The stake is multiple. You have to understand, prevent, adapt the treatments and heal. But for the director, a truth remains: “You have to have in mind that we don’t know everything ».

Patients are actors in their health

A when medical disinformation threatens confidence question arises: how do large institutions adapt to current information upheavals?

For Isabelle Jourdan. the director of communication of the AP-HP, the role of public establishments is not to desert the digital channels, at the risk of leaving the field free to disinformation.

« Social networks are not inevitable. We can act She sums up.

The AP-HP thus invests its institutional means by an accessible website. educational content, partnerships with influencers but also videos on YouTube. Information should be visible where patients are looking for it. “” If those who have knowledge do not speak, others will do so in their place ».

When extending the vaccination obligation for children, the AP-HP conducted qualitative analyzes to understand the brakes. It was not an ideological rejection but an ignorance of the vaccination mechanism. The answer was targeted. A collaboration with influencers close to the target audience, an accessible language and suitable formats when medical disinformation threatens confidence have been set up. The result is a better understanding and restored confidence. For the communications manager, the challenge is no longer only to inform, but to exchange. Because today, “Patients are playing their health”.

Reconquer

In Nice, Emmanuel Barranger, head of the Lacassagne center, is convinced that it all starts with transparency. “”Confidence requires clear, readable, understandable information as soon as the diagnosis is announced». He distinguishes two times: inform to prevent the disease and then inform to support care. In both cases, the abundance of sources (HAS, Inca, Health Insurance, Media, Social Networks, etc.) can muddy bearings. But health professionals have strong credibility. “”Still you have to seize it ”, underlines the doctor manager.

According to him, if social networks have imposed themselves, it is also because the institutions have given them ground. He calls for a reconquest of this space and an increased requirement for pedagogy. “”Inform when medical disinformation threatens confidence is not just to say. It is accompanying. Give shape to mind. And that is a learning ”. In a world saturated with information, quality communication remains a real therapeutic tool.

«The site is open», Conclude Pascal Maurel and Jean-Philippe Spano, president of IFOS.

Jade Pronost

[1] According to the conference “Good health information”, IFOS Congress (Franco-International Oncology Days), June 12, 2025