1 in 5 Adults Rely on Social Media for Health Choices Despite Distrust

Every few scrolls, another health expert appears on the screen. While some are genuinely qualified, others simply sound convincing enough to pass as one. With AI-generated content flooding feeds, avoiding such advice is becoming increasingly difficult. The way people access health advice has shifted, and for many, social media might be a primary source of information. We need to keep up with its impact because, unlike traditional health channels, these platforms often lack strong editorial checks, making it easier for misinformation to spread.

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A recent study surveyed more than 7,000 adults to understand how people in the U.S. use social media for health information. Nearly 80% of users believe that health information on social media is false or misleading. Yet despite this widespread mistrust, more than 1 in 5 users still report making health-related decisions based on what they see on these platforms. This tendency is more pronounced among adults older than 65 and Hispanic individuals. The health care interaction wasn’t limited to consumption—about 85% of users said they posted or shared personal and general health information on social media.

The findings were published in JAMA.

Closing the old data and new reality gap

The influencer economy is booming, now worth billions, and health care content is emerging as a fast-growing slice of it. The health care social media space alone is valued at about USD 1.27 billion in 2026, with projections climbing to nearly USD 3.8 billion by 2035. As a result, many creators have rushed into health content creation to ride this wave.

The rapid growth has also raised several concerns. There is no consistent screening of social media content by any regulatory body, so misleading information spreads quickly, and biased health advice, often shaped by hidden conflicts of interest, can be shared as genuine advice from a content creator to followers.

The consequences include real-life harm caused by self-diagnosis without proper guidance, or even unnecessary and unproven treatments.

National surveys in the U.S. have found that adults are seeking health information online and on social media. But most of that research predates the AI-driven platforms shaping what we see today.

To bridge the gap between old data and current reality, the researchers analyzed data from the 2024 Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS), a nationally representative survey that enabled them to examine the habits of 7,278 people who were chosen to represent approximately 262 million adults across the United States.

The researchers didn’t just ask whether people liked social media. They focused on four key behaviors among users: sharing health content, participating in online communities, making health decisions based on what they see, and their perceptions of distrust and misinformation. They also tracked how people with chronic conditions, like cancer, heart disease or mental health issues, used these platforms compared with people without such conditions.

About 88% of U.S. adults used social media, and most of them engaged with health content, with 70% taking part in online health communities. What stood out was the gap between belief and behavior. Even though most users believed health information on social media was false or misleading, many still relied on it when making real health decisions.

People with long-term health conditions used social media at high rates (85.5%) but were less likely to share health information or join online groups. The data also revealed that those with higher education and higher household incomes were more likely to distrust health information on social media.

Social media is no longer a secondary medium; it now plays a major role in how U.S. adults get health information, and the findings make that clear. The researchers observed this among people with and without chronic conditions and called for better ways to ensure that health content is accurate and to push back against AI-amplified misinformation.

Written for you by our author Sanjukta Mondal, edited by Sadie Harley, and fact-checked and reviewed by Andrew Zinin—this article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive. If this reporting matters to you, please consider a donation (especially monthly).

More information:
Aline F. Pedroso et al, Use of Social Media for Health Information Among US Adults, JAMA (2026). DOI: 10.1001/jama.2026.8682
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This story was originally published on Medical Xpress.