Given the profound influence of social media and emerging evidence of its effects on human behavior and health, bioethicists have an important role to play in the development of professional standards of conduct for health professionals using social media and in the design of online systems themselves.
The authors examine several ethical issues: the impact of social networking sites on the doctor-patient relationship, the development of e-health platforms to deliver care, the use of online data and algorithms to inform health research, and the broader public health consequences of widespread social media use. The authors also make recommendations for addressing bias and other ethical challenges. Mélanie Terrasse is a PhD candidate in sociology and social policy at Princeton University, Moti Gorin is an assistant professor of philosophy at Colorado State University, and Dominic Sisti is assistant professor in medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania. Read more here at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hast.975