iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Raffael Heiss @raffaelheiss.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Excellent BMJ investigation by Deborah Cohen on how social media is importing US-style prescription drug marketing into the UK and Europe. Delighted to contribute a few thoughts. Worth a read. 👇

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Raffael Heiss @raffaelheiss.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

New feature of our review of social media influencers’ promotion of prescription drugs in JAMA: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

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MedPage Today @medpagetoday.com · 30/03/2026

"Influencer promotion can shape medication demand, blur the line between personal experience and advertising, and potentially contribute to inappropriate use." -- @raffaelheiss.bsky.social, on the lack of transparency in social media posts promoting Rx drugs. www.medpagetoday.com/publichealth...

medpagetoday.com

Misinformation Abounds in Influencers' Promotion of Prescription Drugs

Systematic review turned up inaccurate or misleading advice, weak regulatory oversight

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Timothy Caulfield @caulfieldtim.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Prescription Drug Promotion by Social Media Influencers: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam... "....social media influencer promotion of prescription drugs was consistently associated with misinformation, weak and outdated regulatory oversight, & audience difficulty in recognizing promotional intent..."

jamanetwork.com

Prescription Drug Promotion by Social Media Influencers

This systematic scoping review examines the existing research on social media influencer promotion of prescription drugs and identifies recurring themes, gaps in regulatory oversight, and opportunitie...

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Raffael Heiss @raffaelheiss.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

🚨 New scoping review in @jamanetworkopen.com Evidence on prescription drug promotion by #influencers is still limited: only 12 relevant studies over 20 years. Patient storytelling can make ads harder to recognize — while regulation has not kept pace. 🔗Full Article: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

jamanetwork.com

Prescription Drug Promotion by Social Media Influencers

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Raffael Heiss @raffaelheiss.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

📣New blog post📣 I summarize how social media platforms can influence all stages of the research cycle, and why control over data access amplifies this influence. Based on a recent comment w/ @freiling.bsky.social (linked in the post). #PlatformGovernance www.raffaelheiss.com/post/how-soc...

raffaelheiss.com

How Social Media Platforms Influence Academic Research, and How to Address it

Imagine if food or drug companies were allowed to hide the ingredients of their products from independent researchers. In a new comment published in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Isab...

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Dietram A. Scheufele @dietram.bsky.social · 09/02/2026

"With ... policy reforms and critical academic debates ... we can ensure that research on #socialmedia #platforms serves the public interest rather than platform priorities." @raffaelheiss.bsky.social and @freiling.bsky.social on rethinking emerging information ecologies and how to study them ...

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Advertising & Media Psychology Research Group (U of Vienna) @adme-uvienna.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

📢 Publication 📢 J Matthes, A Binder, @sofievranken.bsky.social @raffaelheiss.bsky.social, & @jarakankova.bsky.social content-analyzed alcohol in kids' media, revealing that it's comparatively more often verbally mentioned, interacted with, consumed, & linked to villains. 👉🏼 doi.org/10.1080/1520...

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Raffael Heiss @raffaelheiss.bsky.social · 06/12/2025

The four key biases of influencers’ medical advice (👇comment). #Influencers reach millions – often more than traditional news media – yet are still seen as private individuals and thus evade editorial responsibility. New blog post on our @bmj.com analysis: www.raffaelheiss.com/post/medical...

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Jocalyn Clark @jocalynclark.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

And because biased or misleading advice from influencers - amplified by parasocial bonds and direct engagement - can cause harm... Governments and platforms have responsibilities and must act: www.bmj.com/content/391/...

bmj.com

Responding to public health challenges of medical advice from social media influencers

Raffael Heiss and colleagues argue that influencers’ medical advice is often shaped by multiple biases and suggest how to reduce the associated risks Social media influencers have become powerful in ...

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Jocalyn Clark @jocalynclark.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

Medical advice from influencers is vexed by their lack of expertise, financial interests & industry influence What to do?! NEW @bmj.com some answers. We are not paying enough attention to the complexity & nuance of information environments where trust can grow www.bmj.com/content/391/...

bmj.com

Health information in age of social media and influence

Improving health discourse needs attention to information environments where trust can grow. Social media influencers have entered the healthcare conversation. Raffael Heiss and colleagues’ analysis ...

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Timothy Caulfield @caulfieldtim.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

Responding to public health challenges of medical advice from social media influencers www.bmj.com/content/391/... "Influencers’ reliability is often undermined by four key biases: lack of expertise, industry influence, entrepreneurial interests, and personal beliefs."

bmj.com

Responding to public health challenges of medical advice from social media influencers

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The BMJ @bmj.com · 04/12/2025

Social media influencers are a growing source of medical advice but can be misleading. Misleading advice—amplified by parasocial bonds and direct engagement—can cause physical, psychological, financial, and systemic harm, say Raffael Heiss and colleagues www.bmj.com/content/391/...

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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

The harmful and biased medical advice from social medial influencers, highlighting lack of expertise and financial conflicts. Many specific examples and recommendations provided bmj.com/content/391/...

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Raffael Heiss @raffaelheiss.bsky.social · 04/12/2025

📣New @bmj.com Analysis📣 We identify 4 key biases in #SocialMedia #Influencers’ medical advice — lack of expertise, industry influence, entrepreneurial interests, personal beliefs — and discuss examples. Importantly, we also outline key policy actions needed. Full text: www.bmj.com/content/391/...

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Raffael Heiss @raffaelheiss.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

📣New study in #JournalofAdolescentHealth: Among 1,003 Austrian youth, 83% see #health content from #influencers and 53% buy health products they recommend (see graph). Parasocial ties ↑ susceptibility to marketing; digital #healthliteracy protects. 🔗STUDY LINK (free): doi.org/10.1016/j.ja...

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Raffael Heiss @raffaelheiss.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

🚨 Some #NPOs look like independent #healthinformation hubs - but operate as strategic arms of the #F&B industry. They influence science, public messaging, and policy-makers. We study 5 cases: ILSI Europe, EUFIC, BNF, FEN, and Austria’s FEH. worldnutritionjournal.org/index.php/wn... (c) G. Mondy

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Maddy Jalbert @maddyjalbert.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

I got an email yesterday afternoon that my NSF SPRF Postdoctoral Fellowship was terminated. My grant focused on testing interventions to address online misinformation and I was 8 months into a two year appointment.

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Raffael Heiss @raffaelheiss.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

📢 New Blog Post A recent study shows that three-quarters of the German population have inadequate health literacy. But what role does school education play — and what needs to change? 📖 Read the full post: www.raffaelheiss.com/post/school-... #HealthLiteracy #HealthEducation #PublicHealth

raffaelheiss.com

School Education Needs Change to Bridge Gaps in Health Literacy

"Neither age nor grade level were significant predictors of health literacy."School education is meant to equip young people with the knowledge and skills they need to thrive in society. But our socie...

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Advertising & Media Psychology Research Group (U of Vienna) @adme-uvienna.bsky.social · 07/04/2025

📢 New Publication 📢 Alice Binder et al. analyzed TV series and movies named by Austrian kids and their parents, revealing that unhealthy food dominates, and further that characters' nonverbal evaluation of food is prominently linked to nutritional classifications. 👉🏼 doi.org/10.1016/j.jn...

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Timothy Caulfield @caulfieldtim.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

The NIH canceled my research on vaccine hesitancy www.statnews.com/2025/03/28/v... via @statnews "Each year in the United States, approximately 6,000 people die from influenza. More than 7,000 will die from Covid-19 in 2025. ...an American child died from measles for the first time in a decade."

statnews.com

The NIH canceled my research on vaccine hesitancy

The decision to end research on vaccine hesitancy is deeply disrespectful of those who have lost or will lose loved ones to vaccine-preventable disease.

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Jakob-Moritz Eberl @jamoeberl.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

So it begins: "Email directs NIH staff to identify grants related to ‘fighting misinformation’." Honestly, I was a bit surprised that earlier lists of forbidden terms didn’t (yet) include “misinformation” & “disinformation.” Turns out, they had a separate plan for dealing with that kind of research.

statnews.com

Hours after NIH director confirmed, the agency tackles one of his priorities — ending ‘censorship’ in science

Hours after Jay Bhattacharya was confirmed as NIH director, the agency directed staff to identify contracts related to “fighting misinformation or disinformation”

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Raffael Heiss @raffaelheiss.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Wie erkenne ich 🚩🚩🚩 in den Gesundheitstipps von #Influencern? Unsere Checkliste hilft, fragwürdige Inhalte zu entlarven. 👇👇👇

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Jakob-Moritz Eberl @jamoeberl.bsky.social · 07/03/2025

The weaponization of scientific institutions by an anti-science government…

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Raffael Heiss @raffaelheiss.bsky.social · 04/03/2025

📢Does school education improve #HealthLiteracy? Our data say NO. We tested 780 Austrian pupils (9–13) using a performance-based HL test. ❌Result: No improvements w/ grade level (fig1). ⚠️Problem: They increasingly rely on unmoderated sources, but aren’t prepared (fig2). 🔗FULL STUDY: rdcu.be/eb548

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Raffael Heiss @raffaelheiss.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

New blog post on #MediationAnalysis (MA), which is widely misunderstood and overused in #CommunicationResearch and #Psychology. I made mistakes using MA myself, and no one should be blamed. But it's important to discuss flaws, esp. as MA has become so popular. www.raffaelheiss.com/post/mediation

raffaelheiss.com

Why We Should Stop Using Mediation Analysis

"Imagine that a medical research group were to conduct an experimental test of a new drug for dementia, and use mediation analysis…”

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Tobacco Control Research Group @tcrgbath.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

Thanks to @nature.com for publishing this article on our recent research into the #intimidation of #publichealth researchers working on tobacco, alcohol and ultra-processed foods. Read it here: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

nature.com

‘Nicotine Nazis’: the brickbats hurled at scientists researching tobacco’s harms

A study highlights how public-health researchers are targeted for focusing on tobacco, alcohol and ultra-processed foods.

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Raffael Heiss @raffaelheiss.bsky.social · 28/11/2024

I recently joined the @ejhc.bsky.social as an associate editor. The #EJHC is a great university-led #nonprofit & #nopaywall project, all articles are rigorously peer-reviewed and published #openaccess free of charge. Looking forward to your #healthcom submissions!💪 Link: ejhc.org

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