The "Misinformation" Experts Have a Misinformation Problem

The trust crisis in medicine isn't coming from where you think.

Last night a physician famous for fighting “misinformation” called me a liar to half a million people. Then turned off comments so I couldn’t post my source.

Let me back up.

Earlier this week, I published a piece questioning why certain prominent scientists refuse to debate their work and instead choose friendly media interviews. I named names. I called the behavior weak. Because it is.

One of those names was Peter Hotez.

He didn’t like that.

His response was a quote tweet to his 400,000+ followers claiming “No one told me” about a $2 million charity offer to debate on Joe Rogan.

Here’s the problem: I have video of him being told exactly that figure - ironically on an interview titled “Why science isn’t up for debate” (which is completely on-brand for both AMA and Dr. Hotez but that’s a story for another day).

It’s on camera. In a formal interview. They discussed it at length.

Todd Unger said it directly to his face: “that amount quickly grew to $2 million.”

Hotez didn’t correct him. He talked about the situation extensively. Now he claims ignorance.

But that’s not really his sin. The dodgy “bullying then hiding” is.

Hotez took the cowardly road, retreating to his ‘fans’ like the elite “experts” almost always do.

He untagged me from the post so I wouldn’t be notified. He turned off replies so I couldn’t respond with my source. He leveraged his platform to discredit me to 400,000 people while ensuring I couldn’t show the receipts.

This isn’t just a physician who ‘made a mistake.’

It’s the behavior of a media-trained professional who knows exactly how these platforms work- and is using that knowledge to punch down and hide.

This isn’t about me and it’s not an isolated incident.

Let’s look at Paul Offit.

Last week he appeared on CNN to discuss the CDC’s ‘hepatitis B’ meeting. He told viewers that, in fact, he “wasn’t invited” to present at the ACIP meeting happening that very day.

That claim was false.

According to documents obtained by journalist Maryanne Demasi, PhD, CDC officials had contacted Offit repeatedly — emails, phone calls, a formal speaker request through his hospital’s booking system. The system confirmed receipt.

He didn’t respond to any of it. Then went on national television and said the invitation never happened.

But he wasn’t done.

In the same interview, he claimed Hepatitis B is transmitted through casual contact like ‘sharing towels’ and ‘nail-clippers’ which is in no way consistent with CDC guidance on transmission spanning decades.

He conflated the toxicity of oral consumption of aluminum with injection of aluminum.

He claimed that “50% of people in this country have chronic hepatitis B.” If that were true, 165 million Americans would be infected.

The real number is about 0.3%.

The majority of his statements were, in fact, misinformation. Delivered on live television. The anchor didn’t challenge him. No fact-checker intervened.

And of course they didn’t.

One could assume that was the point.

As reported by Dr. Damasi, there were many falsehoods expressed in that short interview. And there were other concerning elements regarding a lack of disclosure of conflicts of interest. Those are outlined clearly (and well-sourced). I’ve included the link below.

The pattern

Two prominent physicians. Many documentable lies. All delivered with the confidence that comes from knowing legacy media won’t check the receipts and truth can be drowned out.

This is what it looks like when professionals become media players first and clinicians second.

When doctors play it fast and loose with the truth.

We are living through the lowest public trust in medicine in modern history and every week I hear the same explanation from people in public health: it’s misinformation.

It’s social media. It’s outsiders poisoning the well.

Maybe.

Or maybe it’s self-inflicted and ongoing.

• When a physician lies on camera and faces no consequences — that erodes trust.

• When experts refuse to debate their positions and instead attack (or hide from) anyone who questions them — that erodes trust.

• When the people we’re told to believe behave like politicians instead of scientists — that erodes trust.

I’m not asking anyone to change their position on any medical intervention. That’s not what this is about.

I’m asking a simpler question: Why are physicians lying about verifiable facts?

And even more important: Why are we letting them get away with it.

Public health should be about patients and truth.

Not politics or media tactics.

I believe in science. Real science — the kind that shows its work, welcomes scrutiny, and updates when evidence changes.

That is NOT what I’m seeing from the loudest voices in the room.

What I’m seeing is credentialed people leveraging institutional power to avoid accountability.

That’s not how confident people behave. That’s how people behave when they know their position won’t survive scrutiny.

The ask

I’m not asking for Hotez to be canceled. I’m not asking for Offit to lose his platform.

I’m asking for the same standard we’d apply to anyone else.

• If you claim to fight misinformation, you don’t get to spread it.

• If you claim to value debate, you don’t get to hide from it.

• If you claim to speak for science, you don’t get to lie about what happened on camera.

Trust in medicine is collapsing. We keep blaming outsiders.

Maybe it’s time to look within.

The Hotez AMA video is linked here. The unedited Offit CNN video is embedded here in Dr. Demasi’s article. Watch it yourself. Decide who’s telling the truth.