Medical Misinformation, Tech Platforms, and the Threat to our Public Health, with Kara Swisher

Incoming FDA Commissioner, Dr. Robert Califf recently announced his concern about how social media magnifies and disseminates false information about science.

Covering this topic, our SoundPractice guest today is author, technology columnist and podcast host, Kara Swisher.  Swisher has been on the tech scene since the early 1990s.  She has written for the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, and she started the “All Things Digital Conference” with Walt Mossberg, also from the Wall Street Journal, back in 2003.  These days, Kara Swisher is an editor-at-large for New York Media, a contributor to the New York Times, and a host of the podcasts “Sway,” and “Pivot.”

This engaging episode is a tutorial for physicians on the tech landscape, the lack of accountability for tech companies, and an overview of Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act.  Host Mike Sacopulos and Kara Swisher also discuss how social media has turbo charged the anti-vax messaging putting physicians on the front lines with patients, how platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Amazon and Reddit proliferate the disinformation, and what physicians and healthcare professionals can do to help stem the false information.

https://twitter.com/karaswisher

Learn more about the American Association for Physician Leadership at www.physicianleaders.org