How Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic are fighting medical misinformation

How Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic are fighting medical misinformation unknown

Cleveland Clinic and Mayo Clinic's partnerships with YouTube have helped the health systems spread reliable information as the video platform looks to crack down on medical misinformation.

"In partnership with YouTube, we created video content with a focus on credible health information around some of the most popular conditions on its channel," Amanda Todorovich, Cleveland Clinic's executive director of digital marketing, told Becker's.

The health system's channel has nearly 450,000 subscribers and more than 4,500 uploaded videos. The channel's popular content includes a mix of patient stories, such as an account of the health system's third face transplant and informative videos outlining warning signs of certain health conditions.

In 2021, YouTube partnered with Cleveland Clinic as part of an initiative to create credible healthcare content on the platform. The video content platform has recently begun to take a stricter stance on medical misinformation after a 2021 study found that 71 percent of COVID-19 misinformation was recommended by its algorithm.

YouTube stepped up its efforts to crack down on vaccine information in September 2021. At the beginning of August 2023, YouTube renewed efforts to remove cancer misinformation through a partnership with the Mayo Clinic.

"We recently developed a series of condition-based videos working to dispel some of the inaccuracies our physicians are hearing from consumers – these videos were on a variety of serious and complex conditions, such as multiple sclerosis and kidney cancer," said Alexander White, senior marketing director at Mayo Clinic.

"Our next initiative with YouTube is going to focus solely on cancer and we are excited to create new content to help further provide a trusted resource for consumers seeking information on serious or complex cancer conditions," said Alexander White, senior marketing director at Mayo Clinic.

The Rochester, Minn.-based health system's YouTube channel currently stands at 1 million subscribers. Mayo Clinic officials said that its reach has been boosted through its partnership with YouTube and its authority as a source of legitimate health information.

"Mayo Clinic's YouTube channel has been accredited by the National Academy of Medicine," said Mr. White. "This designation appears below all of our videos, helping consumers to recognize trusted sources."

"We have doubled our channel subscribers in the past two years since starting the collaboration with YouTube in 2021, and it's a strong indicator of consumers who are continuously seeking content from our channel. These consumers are most likely trusting our content and repeatedly visiting our channel for information on a variety of serious and complex conditions."