This volume examines recent policy changes and proposals related to social media platforms and artificial intelligence (AI) that may affect online health information and explores contradictory studies on COVID-19 vaccines and cancer. Additionally, it shares other updates relevant to health communicators, including ACOG guidance on contraceptive misinformation, an alternative to the CDC’s MMWR, and the Texas AG’s lawsuit against Kenvue and Johnson & Johnson over Tylenol use during pregnancy. Lastly, it highlights a release from a recent KFF Tracking Poll, which finds that use of health care apps or websites to manage health care is widespread, but most adults do not trust apps that use AI chatbots to access their medical records and provide health information.
KFF periodically investigates regulatory actions and platform changes that may influence how health information is shared online. Across September and October, social media platforms, states, and federal regulators have implemented or proposed policies that could affect how social media content and AI are regulated, impacting what people see online.
Grok, the chatbot developed by Elon Musk’s xAI company, has claimed that Donald Trump won the 2020 US presidential election. False claims, previously promoted by the US president and others, asser...