Facebook pages in the Philippines are touting a goitre "treatment" in posts that use altered news footage and falsely claim the product has been approved by the country's Food and Drug Administration (FDA). But the product is not listed on the FDA's databases, and the "licence to operate" shown on the product website was in fact issued to an unrelated company. A thyroid specialist told AFP that thyroid problems should be managed with proven medication and professional guidance.

"The #1 medicine for goitre," reads part of the Tagalog-language caption to a video shared on Facebook here on January 9, 2024.

A "goitre" is swelling in the neck caused by an enlarged thyroid gland, which Johns Hopkins Medicine says is commonly caused by an iodine deficiency or the over-or-underproduction of the thyroid hormone (archived link).

The post's caption adds that the "medicine" -- a product called Thyroid Aid -- is "safe to use" as it is made in the United States and is FDA-approved.

The attached video, which has more than 55,000 views, appears to show a news report from Philippine television channel UNTV about thyroid cancer.

Images of the product and its name are overlaid on the entirety of the video, and at the 2:31 mark, the narrator claims Thyroid Aid has been recommended by doctors for patients with thyroid disorders.

The post also links to an e-commerce website that sells the product, as well as its own separate website with "additional information" -- including Thyroid Aid's...

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