Homemade, tear-inducingly strong onion "cures" for flu are the latest medical misinformation spreading on TikTok - a sign, analysts say, that affordable, evidence-based health care is beyond the reach of many people.
Onions in reasonable quantities are not considered harmful (except for foul breath), but experts warn that such videos promote a blind belief in simple home remedies that could compromise public health.
The pseudoscience has found many takers, with comments under the videos filled with declarations like "this worked for me!"
That, Wallace says, suggests the so-called "placebo effect," with the dubious onion treatment getting the credit after the virus ran its course naturally.The trend illustrates how TikTok is flooded with unqualified influencers who peddle misinformation, from vaccine and abortion-related falsehoods to health myths - often to boost engagement and views - in what experts say can have a serious impact on medical decisions.
In one of the most popular videos, which garnered over 2.5 million views, a woman who did not mention her qualifications and described herself only as a "child of mother nature," promoted onion water zealously. She implored people to ferment the concoction for hours to make it more "potent.""We love a miracle cure and for some reason we seem to think the more painful a remedy is to consume the more magic it will work," says Abbie Richards, a disinformation researcher and fellow with the Accelerationism Research Consortium.
"Simple solutions for complex problems frequently perform well in engagement-driven algorithms like TikTok's, particularly when the solutions are cheap and accessible in areas where evidence-based health care is not."On that, TikTok says it removes content that qualifies as medical misinformation that is "likely to cause significant harm."
Onion water videos, it adds, do not cross the threshold of "significant harm."That approach, experts say, underscores the challenge facing social media platforms of finding ways to eliminate misinformation without giving users the impression they are trampling on free speech.
Richards cautions that "excessive moderation" in the case of onion water videos could backfire and "encourage narratives that the truth of affordable medicine is being intentionally hidden."A more effective approach, she says, would be for TikTok to ensure accurate health information is "available, accessible, and engaging."
Valerie Pavilonis, an analyst at misinformation watchdog NewsGuard, says: "Even if a supposed remedy like drinking onion water to solve sinus problems doesn't hurt you directly, it could make you think wrongly you're treating the problem."The popularity of the videos reflects what Richards calls "systemic failures" in health care.
In a country with expensive medical care, data from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention shows roughly 30 million Americans, or nine percent of the population, have no health insurance.Millions of other Americans are "underinsured," with coverage not providing them affordable health care, according to non-profit Commonwealth Fund.
"It's very easy for us to say: 'Remember to talk to your doctor about medical treatments,'" Richards says."But I would expect a society with limited access to health care, an overburdened health care system, and a generally confused approach to the newest wave in illness might start drinking onion water or putting garlic in their ears."
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
