Dr. Cyriac Abby Philips, popularly known online as The Liver Doc, believes wellness influencers are outperforming actual medical professionals on social media because platforms reward consistency, engagement and monetisation over scientific expertise.
Speaking to Storyboard18 about the rise of health misinformation online, Philips said many wellness creators are able to dedicate their entire time to building engagement-driven content ecosystems, unlike practising doctors.
“Wellness influencers are more consistent in putting out content than actual doctors because actual doctors have actual jobs. Many wellness creators have no job other than putting out wellness misinformation and monetising it,” Philips said.
According to Philips, algorithms across social media platforms are increasingly shaping public trust in ways that undermine evidence-based medicine.
“People are now more confused than ever. The algorithm always prefers content where monetisation happens, engagement happens or engagement farming happens more. This has led to people distrusting medical science more than ever,” he said.
Philips also argued that health creators should face far stricter scrutiny and disclosure standards than ordinary lifestyle influencers because audiences often struggle to differentiate between legitimate expertise and misleading credentials.
“Every health creator, and every platform hosting them, has a responsibility to ensure that health advice comes from genuine experts,” he said.
Pointing to the ambiguity around online verification systems, Philips noted that labels such as “registered doctor” can often create confusion for audiences unfamiliar with different medical systems.
“On platforms like YouTube, it may simply say ‘registered doctor from India.’ But that could include practitioners from very different systems of medicine like Ayurveda or homeopathy. We have to be extremely careful and specific about the expertise we are getting information from,” Philips said.
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Explaining why India is particularly vulnerable to health misinformation ecosystems, Philips said deeply rooted cultural and belief structures often override scientific skepticism and critical thinking.
“Belief, tradition, culture and religion have always been deeply ingrained in us. Critical thinking is almost never taught or learned systematically. That makes us far more vulnerable to misinformation,” he said.
Philips also alleged that brands actively approach creators to push supplements, detox products and alternative health treatments, including companies from the Ayurveda ecosystem.
“Obviously brands do that. Multiple brands, including Ayurveda brands, have approached me as well,” he said.
Known for publicly calling out questionable health claims online, Philips said he intentionally exposes collaboration requests from such brands to discourage further outreach.
“When they contact me for collaborations or monetary deals, I usually put it out publicly so they stop doing it,” he said.
On legal liability, Philips argued that many wellness creators spreading misinformation often do not fully understand the consequences of the advice they distribute online.
“A lot of these creators are not regulated at all. Somebody loses weight and suddenly becomes an expert in weight loss. They start giving highly personalised advice without anything scientific backing it,” he said.
“Most of them genuinely think they are giving correct information, but it is actually misinformation.”
Philips described the health misinformation crisis as a systemic problem involving governments, platforms, creators and advertisers alike.
“It is a system-wide issue. From the government to the platforms, they are the ones who should actually be policing this,” he said.
Despite the dominance of engagement-led wellness content, Philips said ethical, evidence-based medical content can still survive online if more qualified experts consistently participate in the ecosystem.
“Ethical medical content can survive in the attention economy if a larger number of people keep doing consistent work,” he said.
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First Published on May 25, 2026, 12:37:46 IST