GoFundMe joins Instagram and other companies in suppressing anti-vaxxer misinformation

GoFundMe has joined a growing list of social media companies suppressing anti-vaccination propaganda to help stem the spread of misinformation.

The increased effort of technology giants, such as Facebook, Pinterest and YouTube, is taking place within a relentless anti-vaccine movement, which speaks of "chickenpox festivals" and concerns related to outbreaks of measles across the country. This is also due to the fact that the American Medical Association, the largest medical organization in the country, has urged social media platforms to ensure that users have access to accurate information about vaccines.

Amazon confirmed this week that she too had taken action by extracting books from her online marketplace that contained false information about autism and vaccines.

Then came the announcement of Instagram.

And now, GoFundMe is doing the same.

GoFundMe spokesman Bobby Whithorne said in a statement to the Daily Beast that "fundraising campaigns to promote misinformation about vaccines violate GoFundMe's terms of use and will be removed from the platform. -form". He added that the company "performs a thorough review and will remove all ongoing campaigns on the platform".

But Whithorne told the news website that these crowdfunding campaigns are "extremely rare" and that until now, the company has found fewer than 10 to delete.

Experts say companies, especially social networks, are being given new responsibilities and learning to balance things between doing business and acting as censors at a time when misleading claims about health and science can have a profound impact on the public. health. At the same time, some anti-vaccination advocates suggest that the crackdown would violate First Amendment rights, limit divergent opinions and give Big Pharma an advantage. (Larry Cook, a prominent advocate, did not immediately respond to a Washington Post comment request about the changes.)

Nevertheless, Facebook has announced the ban of certain content and advertisements containing incorrect information about vaccines, Pinterest said block the search terms "polluted", memes and pins prompting anti-vaccine propaganda and YouTube ban anti-vaccination chains to broadcast online ads. , according to reports. Instagram has announced at the hill this week its intention to block hashtags related to "known false health information, including #vaccinescauseautism, #vaccinesarepoison and #vaccinescausids".

Last week, James Madara, Executive Vice President and General Manager of WADA, sent a letter to Amazon's top officials, Facebook, Google, Pinterest, Twitter and YouTube their asking for help.

Madara said the doctors "are troubled by reports of anti-vaccine messages and announcements targeting parents seeking information about vaccines on your platforms."

"As doctors, we are concerned that the proliferation of this type of misinformation on health will undermine the scientific basis, further reduce the number of vaccinations and persuade people to make medical decisions that may cause the spread of easily preventable diseases, "he wrote. "Since public health is online and social media is the main source of information for the American people, we invite you to do your part so that users have access to scientifically valid information about vaccinations, so that they can make informed decisions about the health of their families. "

"We also ask you to make your projects public to ensure users have access to accurate, timely and scientifically reliable information on vaccines," Madara said in her letter.

The anti-vaccine movement is partly fueled by fraudulent research from 1998 claiming to demonstrate a link between autism and a conservative used in vaccines – despite the fact that it has been discredited and that many other studies have provided conclusive evidence that vaccinations do not cause autism.

The controversial debate has been placed at the center of popular social media platforms, where anti-vaxxers spread misinformation and health professionals are criticized for trying to fight them.

Lena H. Sun of the Washington Post reported earlier this week that "pediatricians and other practitioners are increasingly victims of digital attacks from a global movement that spreads misinformation about vaccines." ".

She added:

"Online attacks against vaccine advocates are becoming more common, according to clinicians and advocates of the vaccine Social media sites are the main platform for misleading claims of the anti-vaccine movement Although anti-vaccine activists are a small minority, the social media may seem to be the majority. "

Art Caplan, professor of bioethics and head of the Division of Medical Ethics at the Faculty of Medicine at New York University, said earlier that these companies could not afford to "spread contagion through misinformation."

"You can certainly post things that are opposed to vaccination – people can express their opinion, but when you have websites that contain false information, false information or, similarly, books that tout fictional treatments, I think someone has a role to play in censorship, "said Caplan, who co-authored a 2017 article on" Neglected dangers of the presence of anti-vaccination groups on social networks ". Caplan said it was important that companies exclude such misinformation "because the power of social media, especially in the field of vaccines, is so powerful that it makes you fear vaccines, which leads epidemics, putting people at risk. "