Four tips for combating online harassment, false information
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An organization is helping physicians fight online harassment and false information regarding COVID-19, a speaker at the Women in Medicine Summit said.
Jack Dokhanchi, a medical and digital content intern with the Illinois Medical Professionals Action Collaborative Team (IMPACT) told attendees that “many health care workers, especially women, are reluctant to tackle misinformation on social media, even though they may be compelled to do it.”
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A previous survey may shed some light on the reason for the reluctancy, according to Dokhanchi. The results, published in JAMA Internal Medicine in January 2021, revealed that nearly 25% of 464 physicians who were surveyed said they were personally attacked on social media, and 16% of the 268 female or nonbinary respondents were sexually harassed.
IMPACT — which Dokhanci said consists of about 40 physicians, medical students, nurses, pharmacists, social workers and others in similar professions — has written advocacy letters and blog posts and developed a podcast and infographics to combat negative and false information about COVID-19 that has appeared online over the past 18 months.
These efforts follow a basic principle, he said.
“No. 1, stick to the facts,” Dokhanci said. “No. 2, warn about the myth and point to the misinformation. No. 3, explain the fallacy or why the myth is misleading. No. 4, reinforce the fact one more time.”
He encouraged physicians to follow IMPACT’s approach to combat online harassment and misinformation on their own.