Bad influence: how the internet hijacked our health
LSE Health held a special event celebrating the launch of Bad Influence, Deborah Cohen's urgent and eye-opening investigation into how social media has transformed healthcare.
With NHS waiting lists at record highs and GP appointments increasingly hard to secure, health influencers have filled the gap: promising everything from weight loss to wellness, often with little evidence to back their claims. From Ozempic trends to AI diagnoses, preventative screening to wearable tech, Cohen reveals how we've reached a point where medicine and marketing have become impossible to tell apart. In this compelling talk, award-winning medical journalist and broadcaster Dr Deborah Cohen explored the commodification of health in an age of anxiety, examining why millions now turn to Instagram doctors and celebrity wellness gurus for medical advice, and what this means for our collective wellbeing.
The talk was followed by a reception where copies of Bad Influence will be available for purchase.
About the speaker, discussant and chair
Deborah Cohen is a medically qualified broadcaster, journalist, and editor whose investigations have led to major changes in health policy worldwide. She established the investigations unit at The BMJ, served as Science Editor of ITV News and Health Correspondent for BBC Newsnight, and has produced major investigations for BBC Panorama, Channel 4 Dispatches, and others.
Effie Webb is a reporter on The Bureau of Investigative Journalism’s Big Tech team, based in London. Before joining the Bureau, she reported for Business Insider on the global data worker industry behind AI, automation’s impact on jobs, and how big tech’s push to monetise generative AI is reshaping society. She was also a researcher with Deborah Cohen on Bad Influence. Her work has appeared in the Times, the Telegraph, and the Independent.
Huseyin Naci is Associate Professor of Health Policy at LSE Health and Director of the Pharmaceutical Policy Lab. His research focuses on pharmaceutical policy, health technology assessment, and evidence-based healthcare decision-making. He will chair this discussion.
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