YouTube bans all anti-vaccine misinformation – SciencePost

YouTube officials said on Wednesday that they were deleting the accounts of several anti-vaccine campaigners from their platform. This will affect all content that falsely claims that approved vaccines are dangerous to human health.

Antivax movements

Vaccination has been a divisive topic for about two decades. It was Andrew Wakefield who originally published a fraudulent research document establishing a link between the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps and rubella) and autism.

The author of this paper has since been discredited, but a mistrust of vaccines set in anyway, before gaining momentum. Two years ago, a global survey on feelings towards vaccines then underlined a real crisis of confidence, especially in Europe, and particularly in France, world champion of anti-vaccines.

This antivax phenomenon was once again illustrated in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the most suspicious of them arguing that the serums offered by the various laboratories positioned were developed too quickly. For others, it would also be a means of controlling populations for obscure ends. For several months, false stories about Covid-19 and anti-tax myths have been swarming on social networks, despite efforts at moderation.

A year ago, YouTube had already decided to ban videos containing information contrary to the consensus of the health authorities or the WHO, considered by researchers as a factor of reluctance to vaccinate. Several influential anti-tax channels, such as those of the French Jean-Jacques Crèvecoeur, Christian Tal Schaller, Silvano Trotta or Salim Laïbi, had then been removed.

But it is clear that these measures were not sufficient. As a result, and following the disinformation that still circulates on vaccines, YouTube has decided to strengthen your device.

In a blog post published this Wednesday, September 29, YouTube (and by extension Google) has indeed declared that it will remove videos claiming that vaccines do not reduce rates of transmission or contraction of the disease, and content containing misinformation about the disease. composition of vaccines. Information that the vaccines contain nano-chips or are the cause of autism, cancer or infertility will also be removed.

“Today’s policy update is an important step in tackling vaccine and health misinformation on our platform, and we will continue to invest at all levels in policies that bring benefits to its high quality information users’, the company said.

On the other hand, personal vaccine-related testimonials, content on vaccine policies and new vaccine trials, as well as historical videos of vaccine successes or failures will be allowed to remain on the site. For example, YouTube will not remove a video of a parent talking about a child’s negative reaction to a vaccine. On the other hand, the platform will remove a channel dedicated to parents providing such testimonials.

Of course, YouTube’s measures won’t solve everything. Dr Mercola, an osteopathic doctor considered one of the most important influencers in the anti-ax movement, had his YouTube account (half a million subscribers) deleted. On the other hand, his Facebook and Instagram accounts still have more than three million subscribers, while his Twitter account has more than 320,000.