Navigating the dark side of metaverse adoption in healthcare: ethical challenges, risks, and strategic interventions

Purpose This paper aims to examine the ethical, technological and behavioral risks of metaverse adoption in health care. It highlights the dual potential of the metaverse to transform health-care delivery, while simultaneously exposing users to psychological, informational and regulatory vulnerabilities. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual approach is adopted to develop an expanded 2 × 2 risk framework, categorizing threats by their origin (human vs technological) and level of impact (individual vs systemic). This framework is grounded in interdisciplinary insights from health care, digital marketing and human−computer interaction. Findings The findings reveal that immersive health-care environments can intensify cyberbullying, biometric surveillance and misinformation, especially in unregulated virtual spaces. The paper emphasizes how platform design, marketing strategies and algorithmic systems must be recalibrated to uphold patient autonomy, data privacy and informational integrity. Practical implications Health-care providers, regulators and pharmaceutical marketers must implement artificial intelligence-driven content moderation, real-time privacy dashboards and international governance protocols. The proposed matrix offers a blueprint for mitigating platform-enabled harms and enhancing ethical adoption. Originality/value This paper offers a sector-specific framework with actionable solutions for pharmaceutical and health-care stakeholders. It extends existing scholarship by integrating sociotechnical perspectives with empirical risks, thereby advancing discourse on responsible and ethical metaverse integration in health care.