The last year has been the worst on record in the US for measles outbreaks since the disease was declared ‘eradicated’ in 2000. Even though vaccination rates across the country are still high, (according to the CDC) there remains some communities where disinformation campaigns which claim that ‘vaccines are dangerous’ (often called ‘anti-vaxx’ campaigns) have led to parents refusing to vaccinate their children. Sadly, this can lead to a deadly outbreak when members of the public are exposed to someone who has picked up the disease, often overseas. Measles is highly contagious and can be fatal, especially amongst children.
And despite President Trump telling Americans to “get their shots”, 45 has previously appeared to link vaccines and autism. Public health experts say there is no link.
At the same time, over half a million children in Britain have been left unprotected against measles in the past decade and Unicef has called for a renewed focus on immunization.
It’s with this background that some tech companies are starting to realize they may have been part of the problem.
Yesterday Crowdfunding site Indiegogo said it would no longer allow anti-vaccine fundraisers or similarly unscientific, so-called “health campaigns”, to use its platform.
The move came after $86,543 was raised for a documentary, called Vaxxed II, based on the false claim that vaccines cause autism. Although the organization behind it, The People’s Truth, will still get their cash, minus the site’s 5% fee, Indiegogo said it was now planning a new policy to keep similar anti-vaccine projects off its site, a company spokesperson told BuzzFeed News Friday.
The fundraiser did not violate IndieGoGo’s existing policies on untruthful campaigns, but Indiegogo never promoted it on its site, said a company spokesperson. Executive directors of the “documentary”, Polly Tommey and Brian Burrowes, have criticized tech companies’ ‘de-platforming’ of their film as “censorship”.
Indiegogo is the latest in a line of tech companies coming round to the idea of cutting off the oxygen of publicity and cash to such campaigns.
Last month, Facebook said it would be removing anti-vaxx groups from ads and recommendations and making it harder for users to find anti-vaxx pages and posts using Facebook search. Instagram (owned by Facebook) said it would also do something similar to stop recommending inaccurate information about vaccines on its hashtags and in search. YouTube has also reiterated a previous pledge to stop anti-vaxx content from generating advertising cash on its platform.
Meanwhile, Amazon has looked to remove books promoting an unscientific connection made between vaccines and autism, and anti-vaccine documentaries like Vaxxed. Furthermore, GoFundMe has banned fundraising campaigns from anti-vaxxers.
Mike Butcher
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