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. 2021 Oct:67:41-46.
doi: 10.1016/j.socnet.2019.10.010. Epub 2019 Nov 20.

Re-evaluating standards of human subjects protection for sensitive health data in social media networks

Kar-Hai Chu  1 , Jason Colditz  1 , Jaime Sidani  1 , Michael Zimmer  2 , Brian Primack  1
Affiliations

Re-evaluating standards of human subjects protection for sensitive health data in social media networks

Kar-Hai Chu et al. Soc Networks. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

This study addresses ethical questions about conducting health science research using network data from social media platforms. We provide examples of ethically problematic areas related to participant consent, expectation of privacy, and social media networks. Further, to illustrate how researchers can maintain ethical integrity while leveraging social media networks, we describe a study that demonstrates the ability to use social media to identify individuals affected by cancer. We discuss best practices and ethical guidelines for studying social media network data, including data collection, analysis, and reporting.

Keywords: Research ethics; health data; privacy; social media.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

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