Digital Health Misinformation

The digital revolution has transformed how individuals access and share health information, but it has also catalyzed the widespread dissemination of misinformation and disinformation. From anti-vaccine movements and false treatment claims—including those promoting pseudoscientific remedies—to health-related conspiracy theories and broader antiscience trends, the consequences of digital health misinformation are profound—undermining trust, influencing health behaviors, and complicating public health responses at local, national, and global scales.

This research topic addresses the urgent and growing challenge of health misinformation in digital spaces. We invite rigorous original research, reviews, case studies, and perspectives that examine the sources, spread, impact, and interventions related to digital health misinformation. The focus includes—but is not limited to—misinformation on social media, websites, apps, messaging platforms, and emerging technologies, with an emphasis on real-world implications for public health outcomes, trust, and policy. Submissions may address specific issues such as pseudoscientific health claims, antiscience narratives, and other forms of health-related misinformation.

This research topic seeks interdisciplinary submissions that explore:

• Dynamics of digital misinformation: Pathways, patterns, and the lifecycle of false health-related information online, including the promotion of antiscience rhetoric and pseudoscientific claims
• Detection and tracking of misinformation using artificial intelligence, machine learning, and digital surveillance
• Impact of misinformation—including pseudoscientific and antiscience narratives—on health behaviors, decision-making, and public health outcomes
• Psychological, social, and cultural drivers that make individuals or groups susceptible to digital misinformation, with particular attention to the allure of pseudoscientific and alternative treatments
• Effectiveness of interventions: Fact-checking, media literacy, digital nudges, and platform policies to counter misinformation, including efforts to debunk pseudoscientific health claims
• Role of influencers, bots, and algorithms in amplifying or mitigating misinformation
• Case studies: Analysis of misinformation outbreaks during pandemics, public health campaigns, or within vulnerable communities, with attention to the spread of pseudoscientific or antiscience content
• Ethical, legal, and equity considerations in combating digital health misinformation
• Policy, governance, and intersectoral actions to create resilient information environments
• Marginalized groups: How AI systems impact exposure to health misinformation in underserved or vulnerable populations, including youth, minorities, and low-literacy communities.

This Research Topic was launched in collaboration with the 10th Digital Public Health Conference, a world-leading annual interdisciplinary event on research and innovation in digital public health, organized by University College London. We welcome submissions from speakers, attendees and the broader research community.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Classification
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: digital health, health misinformation, pseudoscience

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.