The Social Media Industry as a Commercial Determinant of Health

Document Type : Viewpoint

Authors

1 Faculty of Public Health & Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK

2 School of Nursing and Health Studies, University of Washington Bothell, Bothell, WA, USA

Keywords


Introduction

Social media has formed a key area of concern for public health. In recent years, elections across the world, the Black Lives Matter protests, and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have highlighted major social media platforms’ roles in amplifying and inadequately moderating mis/disinformation, racism, sexism, and xenophobia. There is growing attention to vested interests, such as healthharming industries, utilizing social media targeted marketing opportunities to promote their products and shape public and political discourse.1 ...(Read more...

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