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As healthcare professionals nationwide try to provide care during a pandemic, many have taken on the additional task of using their social media platforms to stop the spread of misinformation and to directly address people's questions and concerns. But in an attempt to serve the public, many healthcare workers face cyberattacks that threaten their life, family, livelihood, and even the people they serve.
In January 2021, JAMA published a research letter revealing the astonishing number of doctors on social media who are being cyberbullied. The data, collected in 2019 before the pandemic started, demonstrates that 1 in 4 physicians who use social media reported being personally attacked, most frequently from posts advocating for vaccinations. Additionally, 1 in 6 female physicians reported being sexually harassed online.
The attacks often come in the form of a few angry or threatening comments, but some have evolved into all-out coordinated campaigns to harm the physicians, their practices, and even their families.
One solution might be for physicians to avoid posting about vaccinations or pull away from social media altogether, but Chad Hermann, communications director at Kids Plus Pediatricsin Pennsylvania, argues that physicians must continue to fill social media with evidence-based health information or risk being drowned out by harmful misinformation.
