Where Americans Get their Health Information

August 21, 2025

How people take in health information is changing during the digital age.

But a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation indicates that few Americans truly trust most of the health information they receive online—and so-called influencers are not the primary source they go to for health advice.

Here are five takeaways from the KFF poll:

• Social media guide:  About 55 percent of adults say they use social media to find health information and advice “at least occasionally.”
  • Younger adults and Black and Latino adults are more likely to report using it for health information and advice.
• Common topics:  Weight loss, diet, and nutrition (72%), mental health (58%), and vaccines (38%) are the most common content areas.
• Low-trust platforms:  Less than one in 10 users say they trust most of the health information and advice they see across all social media platforms.
• Role of influencers:  About 15 percent of social media users indicated they regularly received health information and advice from social media influencers.
  • This is considerably smaller than the share of people who get news about politics from social media influencers (38%).
• Quotable:  “Asking people to disentangle what kinds of information they gleaned from an influencer is like asking them what drops of water hit them where and when from a hose,” wrote Drew Altman, KFF president and CEO in a corresponding column this month.

The latest KFF poll is available online.