Manila: Filipina single mother Mary Ann Eduarte put off chemotherapy for breast cancer for several years and instead took supplements falsely advertised on social media as cures for the deadly disease.
A shortage of doctors, difficult hospital access on the archipelago, poor health literacy, and fear of high medical bills have led many people suffering from chronic illnesses to seek alternative treatment online. In recent years, AFP digital investigative journalists have seen an explosion in the volume of posts and paid advertisements promoting unproven treatments for diseases such as cancer. This trend was fueled by the Covid-19 pandemic, when healthcare systems were overwhelmed and many were too afraid to visit a hospital.
After her cancer metastasized, Eduarte agreed to chemotherapy. “I made a bad decision,” she admitted. “Those supplements are actually costing me more than if I immediately sought standard medical treatment.” Madonna Realuyo, an oncologist at the Bicol Regional Hospital and Medical Center in the central Philippines, said misinformation on the Internet about cancer treatment is a “serious problem.”
“Telling them the right information doesn’t guarantee they’ll listen or believe us.” The cost of cancer treatment, which can reach millions of pesos, has made patients vulnerable to deceptive marketing of unproven products that are said to be cheaper. “Once you are diagnosed with cancer, the reality is that there are a lot of out-of-pocket expenses,” said Aileen Antolin of the Philippine Breast Cancer Foundation.
AFP has a global team of journalists who uncover disinformation as part of the third-party fact-checking program of Meta, Facebook’s parent company. Fact-checkers from around 90 organizations, including the media, check posts on Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram. AFP has repeatedly uncovered Facebook posts falsely promoting products as natural cancer cures, including “Dr. Atoie’s Best Guyabano Wine,” which was one of the products used by Eduarte.
The drink appeared in hundreds of posts that were shared on Facebook pages with tens, even hundreds of thousands of followers. The Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) told AFP it is unable to go after companies or individuals who falsely advertise products online because it still does not have guidelines to implement this part of the 2009 law that established the agency.
Facebook owner Meta’s advertising policy prohibits any “promises or suggestions of unrealistic results” for “health, weight loss or economic opportunity.” It says ads for over-the-counter drugs should comply with licenses and approvals required by local laws.
These ads can be removed from the platform once they’re flagged, while posts that don’t directly violate Meta’s community standards but are rated false by third-party fact-checkers like AFP are flagged as misinformation and demoted, making them less likely to appear in newsfeeds.But he quit after being hit with several lawsuits from companies whose products he exhibited. “These companies and individuals are very happy to use the Philippine judicial system to silence free speech and any criticism,” Smith said. After surviving cancer, Eduarte said she is now on a mission to educate others about the dangers of misinformation on the Internet. “I’m telling you, when I took those supplements … they really didn’t do anything to cure my disease,” she said.
