Pinterest abandons results of immunization research and pushes against false news



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Pinterest no longer offers search results related to vaccinations in order to reduce the spread of misinformation. The problem revolves around the anti-vaccination content, which represents the majority of the content related to the vaccination found on the sharing platform. This decision follows a previous attempt by the company to remove the anti-vaxxer pins, which was unsuccessful.

Anti-vaxxer propaganda has become a huge problem in many countries and social media is largely responsible for the rise of its adherents. Wrong information shared on various social media platforms presents viewers with various claims, including the common myth of "vaccines cause autism".

Some platforms have been used to form echo chambers, including Facebook, which has had to face criticism from critics who want the company to remove private anti-vaxxer groups. Some of these pages have tens of thousands of followers who are isolated in the privacy of a closed group and are therefore less likely to see their beliefs questioned.

Pinterest allows users to create and share "pins" containing – and sometimes also links – various content. The service was faced with spreading incorrect information about vaccinations on his platform, which he had tried to delete. according to WSJPinterest has not been able to purge all anti-vaxxer content and has implemented a search ban related to the subject.

The research ban came into effect at the end of 2018, although it was only recently disclosed. According to the report, this is a temporary measure that gives Pinterest more time to come up with a different solution. The vaccination pins remain live on the users' dashboard and can always be viewed directly. it's just harder to find them now with the search ban.

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