EUPHA 2025: EUPHA 2025: PlaySafe and Public Health Facing the Web
Can SEO and SEA harm public health? This is the question raised by the association PlaySafe at the 18th Conference of the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) in Helsinki. In the crosshairs: the disproportionate visibility of GBL and New Psychoactive Substances (NPS) on Google, to the detriment of prevention.
At the latest European public health seminar, the association PlaySafe made a strong impression. Its Digital Health experts made a major revelation. They explain how conventional digital acquisition strategies are being diverted. Today, these techniques directly promote the sale of psychoactive products online.
1. A Digital Loophole Serving NPS: A Public Health Issue
The president of PlaySafe spoke during session 4.E. This segment focused on digital tools and data strategies. He presented an unprecedented appeal. His study reveals a major flaw: search engines poorly rank information. They do not distinguish a regular consumer product from high-risk substances. This directly concerns GBL and NPS (New Psychoactive Substances).
Why Do SEO and SEA Threaten Public Health?
PlaySafe’s findings are based on a technical analysis of the search results pages (SERPs):
- Key figure: The presentation of this appeal received a scientific rating of 6.25/10, highlighting the urgency of integrating public health criteria into algorithm development.
- Dominance of commercial SEO: GBL shops perfectly optimise their content. They are so effective that they push prevention websites onto the second page.
Pressure from SEA: Advertising bids benefit commercial actors. They occupy the most visible placements, immediately capturing the user’s attention.
2. Towards Regulation of “Search” for Public Health
The issue is not only technical; it is societal. PlaySafe calls for awareness among Web giants such as Google and Bing, so that Digital Health is not just a slogan but an algorithmic reality.
The 3 Pillars of the PlaySafe Appeal:
- Ethical Prioritisation: Adjust the linking structure so that information and prevention platforms receive a visibility “boost” for sensitive queries.
- SEA Control: Strengthen the moderation of ads related to chemicals that could be misused.
- Data Transparency: Enable health stakeholders to access search trends to anticipate the emergence of new synthetic drugs.
Boost Your Digital Impact
PlaySafe’s fight shows that content mastery is a powerful weapon. Do you want to optimise your visibility for public health causes or high-value projects?
Currently, algorithms prioritise commercial relevance. For substances like GBL, this means that better technically optimised sales sites appear before prevention portals, thereby facilitating access to the products.
It involves using search data to identify demand spikes for certain substances and adjusting prevention content in real time to counter commercial sites in the SERPs.
The conference confirmed that digital health must include stricter regulation of SEO/SEA for high-risk products, so that digital tools serve user protection rather than commercial profit.
