文章基本信息

标题：Tweets and Quacks: Network and Content Analyses of Providers of Non-Science-Based Anticancer Treatments and Their Supporters on Twitter
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作者：Anita Lavorgna ; Leslie Carr
期刊名称：SAGE Open
印刷版ISSN：2158-2440
电子版ISSN：2158-2440
出版年度：2021
卷号：11
DOI：10.1177/21582440211003084
语种：English
出版社：SAGE Publications
摘要：Despite the consensus in the medical discipline that certain treatments lack scientific evidence and are worthless if not potentially dangerous, the promotion and selling of fake cures advertised as safe and effective has long plagued health care systems, praying on vulnerable patients and their loved ones. The web and social media are now playing a fundamental role in the propagation of non-science-based treatments and fraudulent medical claims, and in the rise of false health and lifestyle experts. This study combines criminological and computer science expertise to explore and critically analyze the Twitter presence of providers of non-science-based anticancer treatments and their active supporters in the English-speaking online community to investigate their structural relationships and to analyze the characteristics of the most popular actors. The features of the social network observed indicate that there is not a stable community of promoters and supporters of non-science-based medical treatments in the Twittersphere, suggesting the lack of a defined subculture and the presence of transient collectives rather than identifiable groups. Nonetheless, it is possible to observe dynamic conversational networks clustering around popular actors, tweets, and themes, prompting avenues for further research.