1 in 3 Mexicans Check Social Media Before Seeing a Doctor: Are You One of Them?

In just two years since YouTube Health launched in the country, the platform has amassed over 1.8 million health-related videos in Spanish and over 20 billion views.

Isaac Ochoa, head of YouTube Health for Latin America, notes consistent growth. In mental health topics alone, there’s a 50% increase in views, and a 30% increase in physical health topics.

Misinformation and Reluctant Doctors

While content endorsed by professionals is gaining momentum, two major barriers remain for accessing trustworthy information: harmful content and lack of medical engagement.

YouTube’s strategy to tackle the first issue includes a blue badge on each video under the “health” category, indicating the creator has gone through a medical verification process.

Additionally, a “health shelf” has been introduced, highlighting verified content from medical institutions like the Mayo Clinic, providing reliable context for sensitive searches like “depression,” “diabetes,” or “anxiety disorders.”

According to Ochoa, the platform also removes content that violates its community guidelines before it’s even posted. While he did not share specific figures on the amount of health-related content removed, he did mention that in the last quarter of 2024 alone, 4.8 million harmful videos were taken down.

Despite the vast potential, there is a more structural problem: doctors are not actively participating in the digital ecosystem.

Mauricio González, a certified internist and leader of the Doctor Mau Informa channel, explains why:

“A doctor spends between 10 to 16 years in training, works exhausting hours, and on top of that, has to spend extra time—without incentives—to combat misinformation on social networks. Meanwhile, content creators spreading false information have economic incentives: they sell miracle cures, unproven diets, or empty promises. It’s an unfair competition.”

González adds that health professionals often use technical language that the general public does not understand. As a result, those who know the most are not online, and those who know the least but sell themselves better dominate the conversation.

Doctors at the Forefront Propose a Solution

To address this gap, the “Doctors at the Forefront” initiative emerged in Mexico, a collaboration between YouTube Health and Mauricio González. Its goal is to train health professionals to create reliable, understandable, and sustainable content in the digital environment.

“It’s not about turning doctors into influencers,” clarifies González. “It’s about teaching them to communicate their knowledge ethically, strategically, and with modern tools like artificial intelligence, so they can integrate their medical practice with their digital presence.”

The initiative includes workshops, mentorships, AI tools, and ethical training.

“Today’s health leadership is built on social networks. If we’re not there, we miss the opportunity to guide society towards more informed decisions,” González stated.

Regarding the incentives mentioned by the doctor as necessary for health professionals to find sharing content on social networks appealing, YouTube rewards “high-quality” content for monetization since 2007 through the YouTube Partner Program.

According to Ochoa, for a doctor to earn revenue, in addition to verifying that they are a health professional, they must have their channel registered and with a minimum of 1,500 hours of public playback in the last 12 months or 1.5 million views of Shorts. These views must be public and made in the last 90 days, with content primarily focused on health information.

Their channel must not have any penalties under the community guidelines, nor be operated by a pharmaceutical company, a health insurance provider, or a medical device or equipment company.

Ultimately, Ochoa and González agree that the future of digital health in Mexico will depend on the collective ability to bridge the gap between medical knowledge and effective communication.

“Doctors need to return to the forefront, lead with evidence, and take their place in the digital conversation,” González suggests.

In an era where health decisions are also made with clicks, the challenge is not only technological but deeply human, as it involves ensuring that the truth competes on fair terms with virality.