I think this is quite a worry with many of trials currently happening in this sphere because it is often that case that a majority of participants are indeed communicating with each other. That cannot be neglected (some of the decentralised trials have essentially even been recruiting patients from specific social media channels where they communicate with each other). Unfortunately, we've even seen researchers sharing results of unblinded trials on social media whilst they are still ongoing.
I'm not a fan of NDA clauses but I think social media has changed that in the context of ongoing trials. Even for double blinded randomised placebo-controlled trials there are non-negligible risks (I've seen patients that are sharing extremely detailed accounts whilst the trial is ongoing often including specific side effects, results of objective measurements, how they made it into the trial etc). I think this is something that has to thought about.
We've seen some people faking medical information to be part of trials or abort them as soon as they don't get the same reaction as their friends in the trial. If the sample sizes are large enough and there's a placebo that offers a perfect control the risks seem fairly low but quite often that is not the case.
I do have the feeling that things with Fluge/Mella are generally better, especially since they are not "influencer scientists", but then again I'm also not part of any Norwegian communities.
