Digital divide and artificial intelligence for health

Social media platforms have become key intermediaries for ad campaigns, but concerns persist regarding the veracity of information presented in ads. In the health sector, false or unsupported claims in ad content can have real-world public health consequences. On these platforms, the display of ads is managed by recommendation systems that match the content of the ad to the interests of the user. This paper investigates whether the use of AI algorithms to recommend ads on social media platforms may help progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We collected ads across all US states on Meta and Instagram during a period marked by increased public health concerns. Using a fine-tuned deep learning model, we fact-checked the content of these ads. The results of the fact-check show that only 0.2 % of the ads were classified as misinformation, and 15.41 % of the ads were classified as ambiguous. Both types of ads are less likely to be recommended to users located in wealthier states especially when health-related. Also, health-related ads classified as misinformation are more likely to be recommended to users in states with high percentage of people without health insurance. We argue that the use of recommendation systems contributes to widening the digital divide, which can hinder the achievement of SDGs.