FDA Commissioner: We Need More Power to Keep People from ‘Being Harmed’ by Misinformation

During an interview with CNBC on Thursday released on Tuesday, FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf said misinformation is hurting life expectancy and “there is a real need for better regulation of how we deal with” health misinformation on the Internet and “when we see people being harmed” “specific authorities at FDA, FTC, other areas are going to be needed.”

Califf said, [relevant remarks begin around 9:35] “We know more and more about misinformation. It relates back to this life expectancy. Why aren’t we using knowledge of diet? It’s not that people don’t know about it. Why aren’t we using medical products as effectively and efficiently as our peer countries? A lot of it has to do with choices that people make because of the things that influence their thinking. The COVID vaccines and the antivirals give us an easy way to talk about it, but this is not limited to those areas. In heart disease, so many people don’t take their medicines, even though they’re now generic and very low-cost, often [they’re] deluded into taking things that are sold over the Internet that aren’t effective.”

He continued, “So, how do we deal with this? First of all, you’ve got to tell the truth in a louder volume. In the good old days, when I was a practicing cardiologist, for the most part, people developed products, they got through the FDA, the label determined what was talked about, the Internet didn’t exist, you advertised in medical meetings and journals. There was sort of a hierarchy of information that went through the prescriber or the implanter in the case of devices to the patient. Of course, the problem in that system is it left a lot of people out. We now know about that. Now, everyone’s included because everyone’s connected to the Internet. But we can put out a statement about what we’ve determined based on the highest level of evidence, within ten minutes, someone who’s thought ten minutes about it can reach a billion people. And there’s nothing that restricts them from telling things that are not true. This has always existed. … But they couldn’t reach so many people.”

Califf added, “[Y]ou think about the impact of a single person reaching a billion people on the Internet, all over the world, we just weren’t prepared for that. We don’t have societal rules that are adjudicating it quite right. And I think it’s impacting our health in very detrimental ways. … I think there is a real need for better regulation of how we deal with this complex information.”

He further stated that the FDA already does have regulatory authority over the tech industry regarding health information online because it regulates advertising and people advertise on those platforms, “the question is, can we do it better? And there are so many avenues now by which that information goes around that we have to think hard about what the right regulation is.”

After citing an example about regulating advertising, Califf also said, “I’m highly aware that, in our society, people don’t want the government to have too much power, but I think specific authorities at FDA, FTC, other areas are going to be needed. I’m not saying what they are, because I don’t really know, but I do believe we’re going to need to, when we see people being harmed — like, let’s look at vaccination again, very few people are dying from COVID who are up to date on their vaccination. And if — beyond that, even if they get infected, almost no one is dying if they’ve been vaccinated up to date and they’ve gotten an antiviral that’s approved by or cleared by the FDA. So, why is this not happening? We need to work on this.”

He added that people who are dying of COVID “are the people that are not up to date on their vaccination and don’t encounter clinicians who are up-to-date on the advantages of antivirals. But they’re also people who have been heavily influenced by people on the Internet telling untruthful things about the vaccination. And I’m not arguing here that we should suppress free speech, that’s not — the First Amendment is the First Amendment. But we have to counter that information with truthful information and...

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