The problem

It's not the reader's fault.

People who encounter health mis- and disinformation are routinely blamed for believing it. That framing lets the actors who produce false claims, the infrastructure that amplifies them, and the policy that fails to rein them in stay comfortable. Our work moves the focus upstream.

Follow the responsibility

How disinformation actually plays out — and where the blame really belongs.

Step 01 · Producers

Someone stands to profit from a false claim

Sellers of unproven cures. Tobacco, alcohol, ultra-processed food, fossil fuels, gambling. PR firms, front groups, predatory journals, and influencer networks that monetize misleading health content.

Where the arrow should point

Watch the story play out — then we redirect the blame.

People aren't the problem to fix. The producers of disinformation, the infrastructure that amplifies them, and the policy that fails to rein them in — that's where the work is.

Harms

The human cost of health disinformation

Misleading health claims don't just confuse people — they cause concrete, compounding damage.

The harms

What health mis- & disinformation costs people.

Hover or tap to explore. These harms compound — and they land hardest on people with the least power to avoid them.

Financial exploitation

Unproven cures, supplement funnels, and predatory clinics extract billions from people who are sick, scared, or grieving.

Reconceptualizing responsibility

These harms aren't the price of being "gullible." They're the predictable output of systems that let disinformation pay.

We can do better. By targeting the producers, platforms, and policies that profit from false health claims, we can protect the public — and make disinformation a losing bet.