Updated 26th January 2026
Dangers of health misinformation, part 2: Experts gone rogue
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This is the second in a four-part series on health misinformation and the real-world harm it causes. Here, we focus on medically trained influencers, who should know better.
In the first part of this series, we focused on influencers without medical knowledge who convince people to follow unhelpful or harmful advice.
This time, we focus on health influencers who push disinformation and are medically trained. Here’s a quick reminder of the terminology:
Misinformation: Misleading or incorrect information; usually shared due to a lack of knowledge or in error.
Disinformation: Misleading or incorrect information shared to purposefully mislead for malicious reasons.
“Disinformation” is usually the right term here, as these people know what they’re doing, which makes their activities even more egregious.
Pandemic profiteering
If you cast your mind back to COVID-19, there was a long line of medical professionals who cashed in during a crisis, which, to be quite honest, is shameful.
For instance, Dr. Simone Gold, a trained medical doctor, founded America’s Frontline Doctors. They denounced lockdowns, masks, and vaccine mandates, while promoting unproven treatments, like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.
Of course, America’s Frontline Doctors also offered expensive telemedicine appointments, during which you could get prescriptions for ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, which their pharmacy would dispense.
Essentially, they were cashing in on lies and fear.
It's certainly possible that this shady activity caused real-world harm. For instance, in Oregon, five people were hospitalized after taking ivermectin; two of them were so ill that they needed to be admitted to intensive care.
In fact, one study identified a total of 1,777 cases of harm caused by ivermectin associated with COVID-19 between May 1st, 2020, and December 21, 2021.
In 2022, in what some might call karmic justice, Simone was sentenced to 60 days in prison for entering the US Capitol building during the January 6th insurrection.
Experts like her not only risk public health, but they also further damage trust in the medical profession and scientists at large. Medical professionals ready to make a buck from disinformation have always been around (although thankfully, they are rare), but COVID-19 brought them out of the woodwork.
A study published in JAMA Network Open identified 52 medical professionals who spread disinformation online during the pandemic.
Although it is difficult to tie each of these people to individual deaths, the authors of the paper write:
“Approximately one-third of the more than 1,100,000 confirmed COVID-19-related deaths as of January 18, 2023, were considered preventable if public health recommendations had been followed.”
In other words, these health professionals have blood on their hands.
We’ll step away from COVID-19 disinformation now, though our next character also spread harmful information during the pandemic.
Doctor promotes tanning beds
The Center for Countering Digital Hate is a “not-for-profit NGO that seeks to disrupt the architecture of online hate and misinformation.” In 2022, they published a report naming the Disinformation Dozen: 12 leading online anti-vaxx spreaders.
Number one on this list was Joseph Mercola. During the pandemic, he promoted conspiracy theories and dangerous lies, such as “hydrogen peroxide treatment can successfully treat most viral respiratory illnesses, including coronavirus.”
Hydrogen peroxide is essentially bleach. This is not an evidence-based intervention.
Mercola, an osteopathic physician, has amassed a fortune selling supplements and promoting unfounded conspiracies, including the “Great Reset” theory. In 2016, however, he got in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
As a medical professional, it would be strange to promote indoor tanning systems, as they are associated with a significantly increased risk of early-onset melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer.
But Mercola is no ordinary medical professional; he is happy to lie to make money. So, his company started selling sunbeds.
That’s bad enough, but the FTC was alerted because some of his adverts contained misleading and false claims. In the official complaint, they quote one of his ads:
“Scientists at the Vitamin D Council agree that both children and adults should have a Vitamin D level of 50 ng/ml all year-round. They recommend the use of any Mercola Tanning Systems as a safe and effective way to help you achieve natural levels of Vitamin D.”
The Vitamin D Council endorsement sounds good, but he forgot to mention that he paid them for it. Even worse, Mercola claimed the beds would slow aging and that “The FDA has endorsed the use of indoor tanning systems as safe” (they did not). And worst of all:
“Research proves that indoor tanning systems do not increase the risk of melanoma skin cancer.” Again, this is certainly not true.
It’s easy to imagine that people who trusted Mercola may have spent more time in tanning rooms thanks to his endorsement.
Mercola had to pay out millions of dollars for his sunbed lies, and is no longer allowed to sell them. Still, his website gets tens of millions of hits each month, and his business is booming… he is still winning.
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Measles and vitamin A toxicity
In the US, there has been an uptick in measles cases. Aside from the disease itself, the measles outbreak is causing a secondary problem. In Texas, where there have been hundreds of cases, another parallel issue is emerging.
Medical professionals are reporting a spike in pediatric patients who need treatment for measles and vitamin A toxicity.
Is it a coincidence that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — one of the most dangerous spreaders of misinformation and another member of the Disinformation Dozen — told the CDC to promote the use of vitamin A for measles?
Worried parents, it seems, rushed out to buy vitamin A supplements for their kids.
Because vitamin A is fat-soluble, your body can’t easily get rid of it if it has an excess, making an overdose more likely. Vitamin A toxicity produces symptoms such as headaches, dry skin, hair loss, vision changes, bone pain, nausea, and liver damage.
It’s true that vitamin A can reduce mortality in children who have a severe case of measles, especially if they are already deficient (which is rare in the US).
However, there is no evidence that vitamin A can prevent measles, and plenty of evidence that it can cause harm if taken in excess.
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What to do
Avoiding misinformation and disinformation is challenging for everyone. But when it’s spread by experts, it’s even more difficult to spot.
At ZOE, we’ve produced a number of guides to help you navigate our overwhelming information landscape. We hope these will help:
In part three of our series on misinformation, we’ll look at the rise of artificial intelligence and how this new form of accidental misinformation can cause real harm.
If you enjoyed this article and would like to read the first in the series, here is the link:
