“Immune Boosting” in the time of COVID: selling immunity on Instagram

Abstract

Abstract “Immune boosting” is a trending topic during the COVID-19 pandemic. The concept of “immune boosting” is scientifically misleading and often used to market unproven products and therapies. This paper presents an analysis of popular immune-boosting posts from Instagram. Of the sampled posts, all promoted “immune boosting” as beneficial, nearly all involved commercial interests, and many used scientific and medical rhetoric in their messaging.

Keywords

• Immune boosting
• Social media
• COVID-19
• Instagram
• Immunity