Unveiling deception: Characterizing false amber necklace messages on Facebook.

BACKGROUND

Messages promoting the benefits of amber necklaces for children are common on social media, despite their health risks.

AIM: This study characterized Facebook posts with false content about the efficacy of amber necklaces in teething.

DESIGN

A sample of 500 English-language Facebook posts was analyzed by two investigators to determine the motivations, author's profile, and sentiments of posts. Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modeling was used to identify salient terms and topics. An intertopic distance map was created to calculate the topic similarity. These data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, the Mann-Whitney U test, Cramer's V test, and multiple logistic regression models, regarding the time since initial posting and interaction metrics.

RESULTS

Most posts were made by business profiles and expressed positive sentiments, with social, psychological, and financial motivations. The posts were categorized into the topics "giveaway," "healing features," and "sales." Overperforming scores and total interaction increased with time since the initial posting. Posts with links had higher overperforming scores.

CONCLUSION

The findings suggest that Facebook posts about the efficacy of amber necklaces in teething are motivated by financial interests, using psychological and social mechanisms to achieve greater interaction with their target audience.