[ad_1]
Following an open letter from Representative Adam Schiff calling on Jeff Bezos to curb the promotion of anti-vaccination content and videos on Amazon, it seems his website has done just that.
BuzzFeed News reported Friday that Andrew Wakefield's diary Vaxxed: From hiding to disaster is part of a number of anti-vaxxer titles that are no longer listed in the Prime Video search results for "vaccines" and are not available for streaming. (You can still buy hard copies, however, and the "Group Shopping Fair" section continues to promote related anti-vaxxer content.) BuzzFeed News reported that the site may have pulled the plug of video streaming anti-vaxxer because they violated the rules of content. , an issue raised by Schiff's letter on Friday:
In his letter, Schiff explicitly asked Amazon: "Does content providing medically inaccurate information about vaccines violate your terms of service?" According to Amazon's content policy guidelines for Prime Video, it prohibits "content that promotes, endorses or encourages the viewer to: engage in dangerous or harmful acts. "
It is unclear if the content violates Amazon's policies, and Amazon did not immediately return a comment request for the change. But on YouTube, for example, videos that violate the rules of its advertising by promoting "harmful or unsafe acts" include anti-vaccine content.
The fact that Amazon no longer publishes anti-vaxxer videos in its vaccine research results follows concerns about the site's algorithms discussed in Schiff's letter. Schiff referred to a recent CNN report that revealed the search for legitimate resources on vaccination on Amazon's apparent anti-vaxxer content, a problem likely to contribute to vaccine hesitancy.
"If a concerned parent systematically sees in his research or recommendations on Amazon information that casts doubt on the safety or effectiveness of vaccines, this may cause them to ignore the advice of their children's doctors and public health experts and not following the recommended vaccination schedule, "he wrote. "The repetition of information, even if they are false, can often be confused with accuracy, and exposure to anti-vaccine content via your web service can negatively influence users' attitudes to it." Regards vaccination. "
Schiff also specifically addressed the ongoing measles outbreak in Washington State, calling the situation a "dramatic demonstration of the dangers" of campaigns for vaccine hesitation and misinformation. According to information released Friday by the Clark County Public Health Department, 68 cases of measles have been confirmed in the area since the beginning of the year, mostly in young children. In at least 59 of these cases, the person did not receive the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
"There is strong evidence to suggest that at least part of the source of this trend is the extent to which medically inaccurate information about vaccines appears on websites where many Americans get their information, including Amazon," wrote Schiff. "As the largest online market in the world, Amazon is in a unique position to influence consumption."
[BuzzFeed News]
[ad_2]
Source link