During the COVID-19 pandemic, health disinformation gained widespread notoriety, leading people to refuse vaccines, reject public health measures, and rely on unscientific treatments. While false narratives surrounding COVID-19, particularly vaccines, continue to dominate conversations, the scope of health disinformation has expanded to include topics such as diet, alternative medicine, and disease management.

Despite the multifaceted nature of health disinformation, efforts to combat it often remain siloed. Addressing this challenge requires a cross-disciplinary approach that begins with understanding how these narratives emerge, evolve, and influence sectors beyond public health.

Multiplicity of health disinformation

Health disinformation is not confined to a single topic or issue. From skincare and birth control to veganism and fluoride consumption, false narratives take on countless forms, each tailored to exploit specific fears, biases, and cultural biases. This multiplicity ensures that disinformation is relevant and persuasive across diverse demographics while being harder to combat effectively.

Health disinformation manifests in different ways, adapting to cultural beliefs, social trends, and underlying fears to shape public behaviour.

Manifestation through manipulation

The overarching goal of health disinformation is not merely spreading false information—it’s control and manipulation. Misinfluencers often weaponize culture, identity, and emotions in their messaging to shape public attitudes and behaviours.

One of the most popular examples of this kind of manipulation is the Marlboro Man advertising campaign. Launched in the mid-20th century, the campaign transformed Marlboro cigarettes from a product primarily marketed to women into a symbol of rugged masculinity. By associating smoking with traits like strength, freedom, and rebellion, the campaign tapped into cultural ideals and emotional aspirations of 'the ideal man'. This led to a dramatic increase in smoking rates, despite growing evidence of its health risks. 

Manifestation through amplification

Health disinformation spreads and gains traction, often through social media algorithms, echo chambers, and the actions of influential figures ("misinfluencers").

Social media platforms are designed to maximize engagement, often prioritizing content that evokes strong emotions—whether it’s fear, anger, or excitement.

Disinformation thrives in this environment because it is frequently crafted to be sensational, controversial, or emotionally charged. Algorithms, which prioritize content based on user interactions, inadvertently give false narratives a significant boost. This algorithmic amplification creates a feedback loop: the more a post is engaged with, the more it is shown to others. As a result, fringe ideas gain mainstream traction as long as they are packaged in a way that resonates with the audience.

Amplification is further fueled by echo chambers—online spaces where like-minded individuals reinforce each other’s beliefs. In these environments, disinformation spreads rapidly because it aligns with the group’s existing views. Confirmation bias, the tendency to favor information that confirms one’s preexisting beliefs, ensures that false narratives are accepted without question.

Manifestation through normalization

Repeated exposure to disinformation can lead to its acceptance as truth, even if it contradicts established facts. Here, misinfluencers, whether they have a significant following ("attention grabbers") or operate on the fringes with smaller, more niche audiences ("background noise"), rely on the gradual erosion of trust in reliable sources.

• Attention Grabbers: These individuals attract significant online engagement, in the form of likes, retweets, and replies, often through sensational or manipulative narratives. This engagement can come in the form of likes, retweets, and replies, amplifying their reach and influence.

• Background Noise: These misinfluencers persistently post disinformation, but their content may not garner the same level of engagement as Attention Grabbers. They might have fewer followers or less engagement on their individual posts, but their persistent efforts play a crucial role in normalizing falsehoods, making it harder for individuals to discern fact from fiction and perpetuating a cycle of misinformation that undermines public understanding and trust.

Over time, the normalization of disinformation creates a fertile ground for its continued spread, making it increasingly difficult to counteract.

Health disinformation rarely exists in isolation. Understanding health disinformation requires recognizing its broader context, and its linkages with political ideologies, economic interests, and social dynamics contribute significantly to its spread and impact.

In our examination of misinformation in the meat and dairy industries, we uncovered the core elements of narrative frameworks used by misinfluencers that actively promote the merits of animal-based products while discrediting scientific research on alternative diets.

• Healthwashing animal products: This tactic involves portraying meat and dairy products as essential for health, often exaggerating their nutritional benefits while downplaying or ignoring potential health risks.

• Disparaging plant-based and lab-grown products: This tactic focuses on creating negative perceptions of alternatives, often using disinformation to exaggerate potential risks or nutritional deficiencies.

• Weaponizing culture: This tactic exploits cultural values and traditions to promote meat and dairy consumption, often associating these products with masculinity, patriotism, or traditional lifestyles.

  The "Soyboy" narrative is a striking example of how disinformation can be weaponized in culture wars with detrimental health consequences. This derogatory label, aimed at men who adopt plant-based diets, is rooted in the myth that eating soy makes individuals weak, both physically and emotionally. But what’s even more interesting is how this narrative has grown beyond just food—it’s now popping up in discussions that have nothing to do with diets at all.
  Our data reveals the "Soyboy" narrative's troubling rise in mainstream discourse. A 150% increase in mentions in 2024 (over 500,000 since January), peaking during the   U.S. election cycle, indicates its strategic use to manipulate public opinion and obstruct progress on key issues like climate action, progressive policies, and healthy diets. This derogatory term, initially targeting plant-based eaters, now serves to silence dissent and reinforce traditional norms, hindering the adoption of potentially healthier lifestyles and creating barriers to open discussions about health.

• Links to conspiracy theories: This tactic connects the promotion of plant-based diets or criticism of animal agriculture to broader conspiracy theories, often portraying these movements as part of a hidden agenda.