AI-generated doctors spreading health myths gain millions of TikTok views

On TikTok, a growing number of synthetic doctors are building massive audiences by dispensing medical advice that ranges from the merely dubious to the actively dangerous. Research published this month by Hallam, a digital marketing agency, found that AI-generated content appears in roughly four out of every ten top health-related videos on the platform. For certain search terms—"health tips" among them—the proportion climbs to 84 percent. These deepfake influencers, designed to resemble real physicians, have accumulated staggering reach: the most popular AI-generated health videos average 2.5 million views each.

The claims these synthetic doctors promote would be laughable if they weren't so consequential. They have spread the debunked notion that microwaving food in plastic containers causes cancer, that deodorant use leads to malignancy, that sleeping near a phone increases cancer risk. Cancer Research UK has refuted all of these claims. Beyond cancer myths, the accounts peddle remedies that strain credulity: Coca-Cola mixed with onion as a pain reliever, a fictional product called "Hyalethinap Plus Pro Max" marketed as an anti-ageing cure-all. One avatar claimed to have recommended this nonexistent product to patients for years, insisting it could reverse hair loss, skin damage, brittle nails, and joint pain by stimulating the body's natural production of "anti-ageing molecules." The Guardian found no evidence that "Hyalethinap Plus Pro Max" exists anywhere online.

Medical authorities have sounded alarms. Dr Emma Runswick, deputy chair of the British Medical Association council, warned that these accounts "peddle medical myths and promote so-called miracle cures," and called on platforms to act before "the public could be paying the price with their health and perhaps even their lives." Prof Frankie Swords, the national medical director at NHS England, noted that clinicians are reporting an increasing number of patients arriving at appointments worried and confused by false advice encountered online—guidance created, she emphasized, "solely for clicks." The Royal College of GPs has also flagged the research as concerning, describing the content as carrying a "real risk" of harm.

The scale of the problem is amplified by how people actually use social media. A poll conducted last year by Savanta on behalf of Healthwatch England surveyed over 7,400 adults and found that roughly one in five people rely on social media for health information. Most lack the skills to distinguish trustworthy guidance from commercial manipulation or outright falsehood. Alex Ruani, a health misinformation researcher at UCL, described the rise of AI doctor videos as representing a "frightening amount of exposure to fake medical content," and characterized the phenomenon as "industrialised exploitation of trust."

When the Guardian sent examples of these videos to TikTok, the platform removed them. But the company's response to the research itself was dismissive. A TikTok spokesperson said the findings from Hallam—which they characterized as "a marketing agency with commercial interests"—do not accurately reflect the platform's actual practices. The company stated that it removes harmful health misinformation, including AI-generated variants, and that it partners with the World Health Organization and the NHS to surface reliable information. They also noted investment in AI literacy resources and labelling technologies.

Yet the numbers tell a different story. Hallam analysed 1,198 videos, examining the top 50 across multiple health-related search terms. The sheer volume of synthetic medical content reaching millions of viewers, combined with the documented vulnerability of ordinary people seeking health answers online, suggests that whatever moderation mechanisms exist are not keeping pace with the problem. William Pett, interim director of policy and public affairs at Healthwatch England, put it plainly: without the ability to spot reliable information amid the noise, people "risk being misled in ways that can seriously affect their health." The question now is whether platforms will treat this as a genuine public health crisis or continue to treat it as a marginal concern.