ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2013
Global reach of direct-to-consumer advertising using social media for illicit online drug sales.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
- Pharmacovigilance in the digital age: gaining insight from social media data.Experimental biology and medicine (Maywood, N.J.) · 2025Review
- Illicit Trade of Prescription Medications Through X (Formerly Twitter) in Japan: Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Practices, perceptions and trust of the public regarding online drug purchasing: a web-based survey from Jordan.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Illicit Online Pharmacies: A Scoping Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Article
- Online Pharmacies Selling Prescription Drugs: Systematic Review.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Implications of Twitter in Health-Related Research: A Landscape Analysis of the Scientific Literature.Frontiers in public health · 2021Article
- Discovering thematic change and evolution of utilizing social media for healthcare research.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2019Article
- Solution to Detect, Classify, and Report Illicit Online Marketing and Sales of Controlled Substances via Twitter: Using Machine Learning and Web Forensics to Combat Digital Opioid Access.Journal of medical Internet research · 2018Article
- Twitter-Based Detection of Illegal Online Sale of Prescription Opioid.American journal of public health · 2017Article
- Patterns of Twitter Behavior Among Networks of Cannabis Dispensaries in California.Journal of medical Internet research · 2017Article
- Medical Decision-Making Processes and Online Behaviors Among Cannabis Dispensary Staff.Substance abuse : research and treatment · 2017Article
- Digital danger: a review of the global public health, patient safety and cybersecurity threats posed by illicit online pharmacies.British medical bulletin · 2016Review
- Establishing a Link Between Prescription Drug Abuse and Illicit Online Pharmacies: Analysis of Twitter Data.Journal of medical Internet research · 2015Article
- The rise of digital direct-to-consumer advertising?: Comparison of direct-to-consumer advertising expenditure trends from publicly available data sources and global policy implications.BMC health services research · 2015Article
- Pharmaceutical companies and their drugs on social media: a content analysis of drug information on popular social media sites.Journal of medical Internet research · 2015Article
- A call for a moratorium on the .health generic top-level domain: preventing the commercialization and exclusive control of online health information.Globalization and health · 2014Article
- Pharmaceutical digital marketing and governance: illicit actors and challenges to global patient safety and public health.Globalization and health · 2013Article
- Digital social media, youth, and nonmedical use of prescription drugs: the need for reform.Journal of medical Internet research · 2013Article
- Assessing Trustworthiness of Internet Pharmacies with an Internet Browser Extension.The journal of medicine accessArticle
- A critical review on the availability of substandard and falsified medicines online: Incidence, challenges and perspectives.The journal of medicine accessReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIllicit or rogue Internet pharmacies are a recognized global public health threat that have been identified as utilizing various forms of online marketing and promotion, including social media.
objectiveTo assess the accessibility of creating illicit no prescription direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) online pharmacy social media marketing (eDTCA2.0) and evaluate its potential global reach.
methodsWe identified the top 4 social media platforms allowing eDTCA2.0. After determining applicable platforms (ie, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and MySpace), we created a fictitious advertisement advertising no prescription drugs online and posted it to the identified social media platforms. Each advertisement linked to a unique website URL that consisted of a site error page. Employing Web search analytics, we tracked the number of users visiting these sites and their location. We used commercially available Internet tools and services, including website hosting, domain registration, and website analytic services.
resultsIllicit online pharmacy social media content for Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace remained accessible despite highly questionable and potentially illegal content. Fictitious advertisements promoting illicit sale of drugs generated aggregate unique user traffic of 2795 visits over a 10-month period. Further, traffic to our websites originated from a number of countries, including high-income and middle-income countries, and emerging markets.
conclusionsOur results indicate there are few barriers to entry for social media-based illicit online drug marketing. Further, illicit eDTCA2.0 has globalized outside US borders to other countries through unregulated Internet marketing.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.