Social media has become an important source of health information for Hispanic Americans. But Pew Research Center data shows that many users themselves question the accuracy of what they see online.
Nearly half of Hispanic adults in the United States say they get health information from social media at least sometimes, according to a 2026 Pew Research Center survey. Hispanic adults are among the racial and ethnic groups more likely to use social media for health information, while White adults are notably less likely to do so.
The growing use of social media as a health-information source raises a basic question: Are Latinos relying too much on social media when it comes to their health?
Pew’s findings do not provide a simple answer. They show that Hispanic adults use social media for health information at relatively high rates, but they also show that many Hispanic users have reservations about the accuracy of what they encounter.
Among Hispanic adults who get health information from social media, 8% say the information is extremely or very accurate, while 47% describe it as somewhat accurate. Another 44% say it is not too or not at all accurate.
That skepticism is significant because social media receives much lower accuracy ratings than traditional health-care sources. Across U.S. adults who get health information from different sources, 65% say information from health-care providers is extremely or very accurate, compared with only 7% who say the same about information from social media. Major health websites also receive higher accuracy ratings, with 48% of their users describing the information as highly accurate.
At the same time, social media has qualities that can make it attractive as a source of health information. Forty percent of Americans who get health information from social media say it is extremely or very convenient to obtain. Among Hispanic users, 33% rate it as highly convenient, while another 42% say it is somewhat convenient.
Social media information is also relatively easy to understand. Among Hispanic users, 31% say the information is extremely or very easy to understand, and 45% say it is somewhat easy to understand.
The appeal of health influencers
The Pew findings are particularly relevant when looking at health and wellness influencers.
In a separate May 2026 study, Pew found that 40% of U.S. adults get health and wellness information from social media influencers or podcasts. The share is higher among several groups, including Hispanic, Black and Asian adults and people without health insurance.
Pew analyzed 6,828 prominent health and wellness influencers with at least 100,000 followers on YouTube, Instagram or TikTok, examining 12,800 social media accounts. The researchers found that 41% of these influencers describe themselves as health-care professionals. About three in 10 describe themselves as coaches, while a similar share identify as entrepreneurs.
That means a majority of the influencers studied do not identify themselves as health-care professionals.
The distinction matters because social media users may encounter medical information from people with very different types of training and expertise in the same feed.
Sometimes people aren’t even looking for health advice
Another finding complicates the idea that people are deliberately replacing doctors with social media.
Pew found that 67% of people who get health and wellness information from influencers say they mostly encounter the information rather than actively look for it. Only 33% say they mostly get the information because they are directly looking for it.
In other words, health information can appear while someone is scrolling through Instagram, TikTok or YouTube without the person having initially gone online looking for medical advice.
That raises another question about reliance: How much of the health information people consume is information they choose, and how much is information selected for them by social-media algorithms?
Cultural familiarity may also matter
Pew found that about one in five health and wellness influencer consumers say hearing from someone who shares their personal beliefs or background is a major reason they get information from influencers.
The percentage is particularly notable among Hispanic consumers. About 20% of Black, Hispanic and Asian health-and-wellness influencer consumers say learning about something they do not want to ask their doctor about is a major reason they turn to influencers. That compares with 10% of White consumers.
The finding does not establish why Hispanic consumers are more likely to turn to influencers for these questions. But it does show a difference in how these groups use health-and-wellness content.
Social media is not necessarily replacing doctors
Despite the growing role of social media, health-care providers remain the most common source of health information for Americans.
Pew found that 85% of U.S. adults get health information from health-care providers at least sometimes, compared with 36% who get it from social media. Other common sources include people experiencing a similar health problem, at 66%, and major health-information websites, at 60%.
The data therefore does not show that Latinos are abandoning doctors in favor of social media.
Instead, it points to a more complicated pattern: social media is becoming another part of the health-information environment, particularly for Hispanic Americans.
The concern is what happens when information encountered online is used to make decisions about symptoms, medications, treatments, supplements or other health matters.
Convenience versus accuracy
Pew’s findings show the central tension clearly.
Social media can be convenient, accessible and easy to understand. But the people who use it for health information are considerably less likely to describe what they see as highly accurate.
Among all U.S. adults who get health information from social media, 40% describe it as highly convenient, while only 7% describe it as highly accurate. Nearly half, 47%, say the information is not too or not at all accurate.
For Hispanic users, the pattern is similar: 44% say the information they receive from social media is not too or not at all accurate.
The question, then, may not simply be whether Latinos trust social media.
It may be whether using a source that many users recognize as unreliable is becoming too important a part of how they make decisions about their health.
That is a question that the Pew data raises, but does not answer.
The answer will depend on what people do with the information they encounter online: whether they use it to prepare for a conversation with a health-care professional, to learn more about a diagnosis, or to make health decisions without consulting a qualified medical professional.
