The internet is awash with cancer misinformation, according to researchers, with misleading information receiving more engagement than factual sources, and with Amazon, the world’s largest e-commerce website, being one of the main culprits, they say.
The research team has called for more scrutiny from the website and an appeal for cancer-focused organisations to engage in more intensive and pre-emptive misinformation debunking.
Frequently, after a cancer diagnosis, patients turn to web-based sources in search of treatment information, emotional support, or to learn from the experiences of other patients with cancer.
However, according to the recent survey, the web-based informational cancer environment desperate patients navigate is polluted with inaccurate and harmful information.
The survey, led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, found that more than 55.9% of people with cancer reported misinformation on the web, while 25% received advice on alternative cancer cures that are associated with worse outcomes.
Cancer treatment misinformation was prevalent on most social media platforms, and is amplified by search algorithms.
Multiple studies, added the researchers, suggest that misleading cancer information receives more engagement than factual sources, and that the misinformation is partially driven by financial interests and incentives.
As of October 2023, a search for “cancer” on Amazon returned more than 100 000 search results, and despite it prohibiting product claims for any disease that do not have the approval of the US Food and Drug Administration, multiple media reports document sellers on Amazon listing dangerous and “misleading” cancer products.
The authors of the survey – the findings were published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research – say it has been suggested that Amazon gives recommendations for books advising unproven or disproven cancer cures.
At the time of writing, the number one bestseller under “cancer” on Amazon was a book describing how a cancer patient healed himself naturally after refusing chemotherapy following surgery.
“Media reports note that the book presents a misleading narrative, in which the author opted out of curative chemotherapy when he in fact opted out of adjuvant chemotherapy.”
The book’s author still appears to earn commissions and sell cancer-related books, anti-cancer supplements, and immune support products on Amazon, said the study.
This context, said the study authors, suggests an immediate need to evaluate Amazon for cancer misinformation. The tools offered by Amazon to its sellers may enable the sale of books promoting scientifically unsupported cancer treatments and cures. Evaluating alleged cancer cure books for sale on Amazon is important to determine the information patients with cancer may view and purchase, they concluded.
Study details
Marco Zenone, May van Schalkwyk, Greg Hartwell, Timothy Caulfield, Nason Maani.
Published in Journal of Medical Internet Research on 8 October 2024
Abstract
Background
While the evidence base on web-based cancer misinformation continues to develop, relatively little is known about the extent of such information on the world’s largest e-commerce website, Amazon. Multiple media reports indicate that Amazon may host on its platform questionable cancer-related products for sale, such as books on purported cancer cures. This context suggests an urgent need to evaluate Amazon.com for cancer misinformation.
Objective
This study sought to (1) examine to what extent are misleading cancer cure books for sale on Amazon.com and (2) determine how cancer cure books on Amazon.com provide misleading cancer information.
Methods
We searched “cancer cure” on Amazon.com and retrieved the top 1000 English-language book search results. We reviewed the books’ descriptions and titles to determine whether the books provided misleading cancer cure or treatment information. We considered a book to be misleading if it suggested scientifically unsupported cancer treatment approaches to cure or meaningfully treat cancer. Among books coded as misleading, we conducted an inductive latent thematic analysis to determine the informational value the books sought to offer.
Results
Nearly half (494/1000, 49.4%) of the sampled “cancer cure” books for sale on Amazon.com appeared to contain misleading cancer treatment and cure information. Overall, 17 (51.5%) out of 33 Amazon.com results pages had 50% or more of the books coded as misleading. The first search result page had the highest percentage of misleading books (23/33, 69.7%). Misleading books (n=494) contained eight themes: (1) claims of efficacious cancer cure strategies (n=451, 91.3%), (2) oversimplifying cancer and cancer treatment (n=194, 39.3%), (3) falsely justifying ineffective treatments as science based (n=189, 38.3%), (4) discrediting conventional cancer treatments (n=169, 34.2%), (5) finding the true cause of cancer (n=133, 26.9%), (6) homogenising cancer (n=132, 26.7%), (7) discovery of new cancer treatments (n=119, 24.1%), and (8) cancer cure suppression (n=82, 16.6%).
Conclusions
The results demonstrate that misleading cancer cure books are for sale, visible, and prevalent on Amazon.com, with prominence in initial search hits. These misleading books for sale on Amazon can be conceived of as forming part of a wider, cross-platform, web-based information environment in which misleading cancer cures are often given prominence. Our results suggest that greater enforcement is needed from Amazon and that cancer-focused organisations should engage in pre-emptive misinformation debunking.
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