Center forces influencers to disclose their qualifications for health and wellness advice
Updated – Tue, 11 Apr 23 at 03:29pm
Hyderabad: The central government recently decided to make it mandatory for all social media influencers endorsing health and wellness related products to demonstrate their credentials. While many saw this as a positive move toward evidence-based healthcare, some doctors took to Twitter to voice their concerns.
“If you say this food is good or bad, if you say this medicine is good, you have to be qualified and make it public that you are qualified to say that. Otherwise, it can be very misleading,” said the secretary of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Government of India. Rohit Kumar Singh said in an interview with Business Standard.
Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, a medical specialist in hepatology and liver transplantation, commonly known as “TheLiverDoc,” said the government needs to take certain precautions to ensure this is effective, asking: “My question is, what if We got it as shown on the right, would this be considered legitimate? It’s a certificate after all.”
Citing a man who claims to be a “cancer healer” and advises people on how to cure cancer, the doctor said the problem was policing India’s charlatans who promoted this “nonsense” by demanding fraudulent certificates .
“A certificate in treating cancer from the ‘Unhurry School of Healing’ is the same as a certificate in treating diarrhea from the ‘Please Stop School of Healing’ or a certificate in treating constipation (sic) from the ‘Just Hurry School of Healing’,” he added.
The Indian government has required health and wellness influencers to demonstrate their credentials legally authorizing them to post healthcare advice on social media.
My question is, if we have a certification like the one shown on the right, will it be considered… pic.twitter.com/twyINyBkJk
— TheLiverDoc (@theliverdr) April 10, 2023
Several other doctors expressed concern, claiming they were dealing with similar issues in other fields of medicine.
“Same thing with dermatology. People get cosmetology certificates from BUMS and dentists. Then proudly display it like a huge achievement when all they did was pay 50k and take 2 days of some BS class, now think They are equal to MD. (sic),” another doctor named Gooner said on the Weibo site.
The same goes for dermatology. People get cosmetology certificates from BUMS and dentists. Then proudly display it like a huge achievement when all they did paid 50k and took 2 days of some BS class and now think they are equal to MD.
— Dr. Gooner (@Gooner_Yahya) April 10, 2023
It was highlighted that the definitions of qualification and certification need to be clarified along with the regulations so that people know the difference between them.
In the unregulated countries of the world, the line between the two is very thin.
— Dr. Sujeet Narayan C (@SujeetMD) April 10, 2023
According to a Business Standard report, the social media influencer market in India will be worth $155.6 million by 2022, with a significant portion of that being people who give health and wellness advice.
However, the new policy is expected to raise the bar for grassroots and independent content creators and apply to address disinformation, especially when their opinions may influence individual healthcare decisions.
