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How Facebook Helped the Anti-Vaxxer Movement Go Viral;

New reports have implicated Facebook and other social
media platforms for their role in the spread of anti-vaccine
propaganda
Date: Feb. 19, 2019
From: Miller-McCune.com
Publisher: Pacific Standard
Document Type: Article
Length: 606 words

Full Text:
As Washington, New York, and Texas continue to battle measles outbreaks, new reports have implicated Facebook and other social
media platforms for their role in the spread of propaganda that fueled the anti-vaccine movement.

A series of investigations from the Guardian this month uncovered the ways in which Facebook and YouTube promoted fake and
misleading content, in spite of the dangers posed to public health: Their algorithms
(https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/feb/01/facebook-youtube-anti-vaccination-misinformation-social-media) pointed viewers
toward misinformation over science-based information, closed Facebook groups like "Stop Mandatory Vaccination"
(https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/feb/12/facebook-anti-vaxxer-vaccination-groups-pressure-misinformation) spread
inaccurate advice among their hundreds of thousands of members, and, as revealed last week, Facebook
(https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/feb/15/facebook-anti-vaccination-advertising-targeting-
controversy?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other) allowed advertisers to promote this content--(https://psmag.com/social-justice/facebook-
stop-letting-the-haters-play-u) yet another instance in which the platform has been found to be peddling harmful propaganda.

Now, medical professionals and some lawmakers are calling for a crackdown. In a
(https://schiff.house.gov/imo/media/doc/Vaccine%20Letter_Zuckerberg.pdf) letter to executives at Facebook and Google (which owns
YouTube), Representative Adam Schiff (D-California) last week condemned the tech giants for helping to spread anti-vaccine
propaganda, most recently linked to a measles outbreak in Washington that's infected more than
(https://www.doh.wa.gov/YouandYourFamily/IllnessandDisease/Measles/MeaslesOutbreak) 60 people.

"There is strong evidence to suggest that at least part of the source of this trend is the degree to which medically inaccurate
information about vaccines surface[s] on the websites where many Americans get their information," he wrote. "The algorithms which
power these services are not designed to distinguish quality information from misinformation or misleading information, and the
consequences of that are particularly troubling for public health issues."

Facing pressure from Schiff and others, Facebook responded Friday, telling
(https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-14/facebook-says-it-may-remove-anti-vaccine-recommendations) Bloomberg
News that it is "exploring" removing anti-vaccine information from its platform. This could mean "reducing or removing this type of
content from recommendations, including Groups You Should Join, and demoting it in search results, while also ensuring that higher
quality and more authoritative information is available," the company said in a
(https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-14/facebook-says-it-may-remove-anti-vaccine-recommendations) statement.

Facebook has come under fire in the past for promoting bigotry and misinformation, as Pacific Standard has
(https://psmag.com/social-justice/facebook-stop-letting-the-haters-play-u) covered. Its (https://psmag.com/social-
justice/understanding-facebooks-failure-to-deal-with-hate-speech) promised reforms have not stopped the spread of hate speech,
Russian propaganda, and (https://psmag.com/news/heres-more-evidence-facebook-is-harming-democracy) fake news on the site--
which, as (https://psmag.com/news/heres-more-evidence-facebook-is-harming-democracy) research shows, have undermined
democracy. Vaccine controversy, too, has harmful consequences, as seen in the resurgence of measles, a potentially fatal disease
once eliminated in the United States by vaccines.

Pacific Standard (https://psmag.com/news/why-measles-outbreaks-are-on-the-rise-in-the-us) reported last week that the anti-vaccine

movement has contributed to measles outbreaks in the U.S., the (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/12/measles-outbreak-
in-philippines-kills-70-with-vaccine-fear-mongering-blamed) Philippines, and across (https://www.physiciansweekly.com/european-
measles-cases-highest/) Europe, and a 30 percent increase in measles cases globally--one of the reasons why the World Health
Organization (https://psmag.com/news/are-anti-vaxxers-a-major-health-threat-the-world-health-organization-says-yes) named
"vaccine hesitancy" as one of the top 10 health threats of 2019. Although anti-vaxxers make up a small proportion of the population,
their geographic distribution and vocal opposition has been enough to threaten herd immunity in at least three states, according to
Gregory Zimet, professor of pediatrics and co-director of the Center for HPV Research at Indiana University--Purdue University,
Indianapolis:

[Quotation]This sentiment has been helped along by celebrity endorsements,

(https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/feb/01/facebook-youtube-anti-vaccination-misinformation-social-media) misinformation on
Facebook and YouTube, and a growing (https://psmag.com/social-justice/changing-parental-attitudes-on-child-vaccinations-41350)
distrust of physicians. "To use an infectious disease metaphor, [anti-vaxxers are] so strident and use social media effectively, that
there's a possibility of them 'infecting' parents who have questions but aren't really hard-core anti-vaccine," Zimet says.[Quotation]

Cracking down on Facebook and YouTube content that promotes myths about vaccination is one way to end this cycle;
(https://psmag.com/education/the-curious-morality-of-the-anti-vaxxer) research suggests that explaining the importance of vaccines
to hesitant parents could be another.

Please note: Some figures or graphics were omitted from this article.

To access, purchase, authenticate, or subscribe to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: https://psmag.com/news/how-
facebook-helped-the-anti-vaxxer-movement-go-viral

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2019 Pacific Standard

http://www.miller-mccune.com/
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"How Facebook Helped the Anti-Vaxxer Movement Go Viral; New reports have implicated Facebook and other social media
platforms for their role in the spread of anti-vaccine propaganda." Miller-McCune.com, 19 Feb. 2019. Gale General OneFile,
https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A593901739/ITOF?u=uwsydney&sid=ITOF&xid=51b92f61. Accessed 24 Oct. 2019.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A593901739