Picture this: you’re scrolling through your social media feed late at night, and a video stops you mid-thumb. A smiling influencer, someone with perfect lighting and a million followers, is talking about a new “miracle” supplement or a skincare routine that changed their life. The comments are flooded with gratitude and excitement. It looks real, it feels personal, and within hours, it has been shared thousands of times. Meanwhile, somewhere in a clinic, a doctor sees the same video and sighs. They know the claims are exaggerated, possibly even dangerous. But correcting it will take time, patience, and a video that will likely never get the same reach. This exact tension took center stage at the Arab Media Summit in Dubai, during a compelling panel titled “Doctor or Influencer: Who Do We Believe?” Health experts gathered to confront a growing crisis: medical misinformation spreading faster than ever on social media, often outpacing the voices of qualified professionals. Their message was not one of despair, but of urgency and opportunity. They called on doctors to stop hiding behind clinic walls and start showing up in the same digital spaces where falsehoods flourish, not as marketers, but as trusted voices capable of cutting through the noise with science, empathy, and clarity.
The first voice to capture the room was Dr. Anwar Al Hammadi, a dermatology consultant who sees social media as far more than a battlefield. To him, it is a “golden opportunity” for medical professionals to build a better-informed, more health-conscious society. But that opportunity carries conditions. “I am with the influential doctor and not the marketing doctor,” he said, drawing a line in the sand. In recent years, some doctors have begun using their platforms to promote specific products and services, blending medical authority with commercial interests. Dr. Al Hammadi warned that this is one of the biggest challenges facing the profession today. When a doctor becomes a salesperson, the lines blur, and patient trust begins to erode. Paid medical advertising, he explained, places an even heavier burden on physicians, because their words carry more weight than those of a random celebrity. They cannot afford to be careless. He also called for stronger self-regulation among content creators and cautioned against the seductive power of “before-and-after” videos, especially those linked to cosmetic treatments and procedures. These carefully staged transformations can mislead people into unrealistic expectations, often hiding risks and complications. For Dr. Al Hammadi, being a doctor is not just about diagnosing patients or writing prescriptions. It is about raising public awareness, correcting misinformation, and showing up with integrity even when it costs more effort than posting a sponsored ad. The influential doctor, in his view, is the one who uses their voice to serve the truth, not to sell a dream.
Dr. Talal Al Muhaisen, another dermatology consultant, painted a stark picture of the current digital landscape. Doctors, he said, now share the same platforms as influencers who are driven by views, engagement, and follower counts. And in that arena, doctors are often at a disadvantage. “The voices of influencers today are louder than the voice of the doctor,” he observed. Why? Because influencers are always present, always posting, always engaging. They have the freedom to make sweeping promises and share dramatic personal stories. Doctors, on the other hand, are bound by professional and ethical responsibilities. They must be careful with their words, respect patient privacy, and avoid giving advice without context. This asymmetry means that even when a doctor does create content, it often feels more cautious, less exciting, and therefore less shareable. Dr. Al Muhaisen said that advertising is one of the key challenges in this environment. Promotional content, he argued, should be clearly marked as advertising so that audiences know when they are being sold something. Without that transparency, trust becomes impossible. He also addressed a troubling pattern: videos that go viral are not necessarily accurate. Medical misinformation can become a trend in a matter of minutes, while correcting it often takes months of painstaking effort. He recalled the example of an influencer who shared their personal experience with slimming injections. That story attracted millions of views. And while personal experiences can be compelling, they become dangerous when audiences treat them as scientific evidence. “The spread of information does not mean that it is true,” he reminded everyone. Likes and shares are not markers of medical accuracy. They are simply signals of what resonates emotionally. What works online, he suggested, is not always what works in reality.
The conversation then shifted to the skill gap between medicine and media. Dr. Munther Al Harini, a cosmetic dentist and content creator, admitted that medical education does not adequately prepare doctors for the world of cameras, algorithms, and viral trends. Most doctors are trained to communicate one-on-one with patients, not to perform for an invisible audience of millions. Yet that is exactly what the modern information landscape demands. Dr. Al Harini stressed that doctors have a responsibility to challenge and correct false medical information whenever they encounter it online. Staying silent, he suggested, is no longer an acceptable option. But correction alone is not enough. The old approach of posting a dry rebuttal or a clinical explanation is losing its impact. If influencers can reach people through short, dynamic videos, doctors must learn to use the same tools and platforms to connect with audiences on their own terms. That means speaking in simple, human language, avoiding jargon, and adopting styles that feel authentic and engaging. He also warned about the casual misuse of psychological and medical terms on social media. Words like “narcissist” or references to hyperactivity disorders are being thrown around without professional diagnosis, trivializing serious conditions and creating confusion about what they actually mean. This linguistic carelessness, he explained, shapes how people understand their own mental health and the health of those around them. Dr. Al Harini believes the solution is not for doctors to become influencers in the shallow sense, but to become communicators. They need to create content that is not only accurate but also compelling enough to compete for attention in a crowded feed. “If the influencer can reach people through video, then the doctor should use the same tools and algorithms to reach the audience,” he said. Accuracy without reach is like a safety warning in a language no one understands.
Beneath the technical discussions lay a deeper question: what kind of relationship do we want with the people who guide our health decisions? The panelists’ answers were consistent. We want doctors who are present, accessible, and trustworthy. We want professionals who can translate complex science into meaningful advice. And we want a digital ecosystem where transparency is the norm, not the exception. This requires a collective shift in behavior from all sides. Medical professionals must step outside their comfort zones and embrace the messy, fast-paced world of social media. They must learn to tell stories, use humor when appropriate, and admit when science is uncertain. They must resist the temptation to monetize their authority in ways that compromise their credibility. At the same time, content creators and influencers must be held to higher standards. Personal stories can be powerful teaching tools, but they should not be mistaken for medical evidence. Labels matter. Scrolling past a “miracle cure” video without a second thought is easy, but the consequences of misinformation are not abstract. They show up in emergency rooms, in worsening chronic conditions, in people who delay cancer screenings because they trusted a wellness guru over an oncologist. The panelists urged audiences to develop digital literacy as a survival skill. Before believing a health claim, ask who is making it, what evidence supports it, and whether the person has a hidden incentive. The fact that a video was liked by thousands or shared by a celebrity means nothing if it is contradicted by science. In this chaotic information environment, the quiet voice of a doctor with no stethoscope around their neck and no filters on their face might not get the same applause, but it deserves the same attention.
As the second day of the Arab Media Summit came to a close, there was a sense of cautious hope in the room. The panelists did not come to condemn social media or fear its influence. They came to reclaim it. They know that the same algorithms that spread misinformation can be used to spread knowledge. The same platforms that amplify influencers can amplify experts. The same visual language that sells beauty products can sell honest, life-saving information. But this will not happen by accident. It will require effort, humility, and a willingness to adapt. Doctors must become creators, not just commentators. Media institutions must support medical professionals with training and resources. And audiences must demand better, from both the content they consume and the standards they hold content creators to. The central message was simple: in a world where a lie can reach millions in seconds, the truth cannot afford to be quiet. We need doctors who are not afraid to sit in front of a camera, speak plainly, and answer questions that might seem simple or repetitive. We need medical voices that are as consistent, relatable, and visible as the influencers we are tempted to believe. Most importantly, we need to remember that medicine is not a product to be marketed, but a profession built on trust. The right answer to the question “Doctor or Influencer: Who Do We Believe?” is not necessarily one or the other. It is the voice that respects our intelligence, tells us the truth, and treats our health as more important than their popularity. In the end, the best content is not the most viral. It is the most honest. And that is a message worth sharing.