Facebook and Google are not the only ones who are taking serious measures against the proliferation of “fake news”.
SEE ALSO: Experts don’t know if the fake news problem will get more or less awful
The UK’s leading cancer charity, Macmillan, has appointed a digital nurse who will answer questions from patients on social media and help dispel myths around cancer, it said in a press release.
The charity said there’s a growing percentage of patients who Google their diagnosis without adequate support and could end up “needlessly frightened” and at risk of “bogus cures”.
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Research conducted by YouGov found out that 42% of people with cancer looked up information about their diagnosis online, and of those 1 in 8 said they didn’t fully understand their diagnosis.
Ellen McPake, the nurse appointed for the digital role, will flank the charity’s social media team and online community to work as one team.
“She can provide sound and trusted clinical expertise on our digital platforms for example responding reactively to posts on Facebook that require a nurses’ clinical insight,” a spokesperson for Macmillan told Mashable.
She will also help run a series of monthly Q&A sessions on Macmillan’s Online Community on a specific theme. November is dedicated to head and neck cancer while December’s theme will be the emotional issues around cancer.
“Once the doctor says ‘cancer’, people automatically then shut down and they don’t take in the information that they’re given,” McPake told the BBC.
“So they go home, speak to the family. And then they’ll sit online that night and get themselves in a frenzy with what they’re reading.”
Among the myths the nurse will help debunk is a website claiming chemotherapy is a bigger killer than cancer. Another site wrongly reports that baking soda can cure breast cancer.
Here are the two most popular myths that McPake and Macmillan are hoping to debunk:
Cancer is a death sentence
Breast implants can increase your risk of cancer
