On TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, a single word can give health advice enormous authority: "Doctor."

But that title alone does not tell viewers what someone is actually qualified to do.

A person using "Dr." might be a licensed physician. They might be a dentist, chiropractor, psychologist or another licensed healthcare professional. They might hold a PhD in an entirely different field.

Those distinctions matter when someone is giving millions of people advice about medications, mental health, nutrition, supplements, fertility, chronic illness or other medical issues.

The Federal Trade Commission has specifically recognized how a vague "Doctor" designation can mislead consumers. In its health-products advertising guidance, the FTC gives the example of an expert promoted as a "Doctor" whose doctorate was in psychology, not medicine. The FTC explains that presenting the expert this way could overstate her qualifications and contribute to deceptive advertising.

This isn't an argument that people with non-medical doctorates shouldn't use the title "Dr." They earned their credentials.

It's an argument that social-media users deserve to know what those credentials are.

The platforms already recognize that identity and expertise can affect trust. TikTok, for example, prohibits certain AI-generated personas that impersonate or falsely imply medical or professional expertise in product promotion.

Meta and TikTok can go further.

We are asking Meta and TikTok to require accounts that publicly identify themselves as "Dr." or "Doctor" while regularly publishing health or medical information to clearly disclose the credential behind that title in their profile.

For example:
Dr. Jane Smith — MD, Internal Medicine
Dr. John Smith — PhD, Nutrition Science
Dr. Alex Smith — ND, Naturopathic Doctor
Dr. Taylor Smith — DC, Chiropractor

Platforms should also provide an optional verification system for professional licenses and credentials so viewers can distinguish between a credential someone has simply typed into a profile and one the platform has independently verified.

This proposal does not ask social-media companies to decide whose medical opinions are correct.

It asks them to give users basic information about who is speaking.

The American Medical Association's ethics guidance says physicians using social media to disseminate healthcare information should ensure that information is useful and accurate based on professional medical judgment. The FTC likewise requires health-related advertising claims and expert endorsements to be truthful rather than misleading.

Social media has become one of the places where people encounter health information. Transparency about professional qualifications should be the minimum standard.

Meta and TikTok: require people presenting themselves as doctors while giving health information to identify the credential behind that title—and give qualified professionals a way to verify it.

People shouldn't have to investigate an influencer before discovering what kind of "doctor" they've been taking medical advice from.