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representative Adam Schiff
Adam Bennett Schiff: Democrats criticize Trump for nepotism after checking Kushner's security. House intel interrogates Cohen for eight hours. Defense at night: Trump suffered a setback in Korea negotiations | Trump receives praise for negotiating talks | Backlash for Kim's defense on Otto Warmbier | Senators propose resolution to block emergency declaration MORE (D-Calif.) Amazon's popular anti-vaccination products sold on its online store on Friday accused the retail giant of allowing "harmful" content to "grow and spread" .
Schiff's comments, formulated in a letter to Amazon's CEO, Jeff Bezos, follow the increasingly scrutiny of tech giants over the dissemination of anti-vaccine content on their platforms.
Lawmakers and public health advocates have lobbied large companies such as YouTube and Facebook to fight wrong medical information, which they say reinforces the anti-vaccine movement of people who do not get vaccinated not themselves or their children.
"There is strong evidence suggesting that at least some of the source of this trend lies in the degree of dissemination of inaccurate medical information about vaccines on websites where many Americans get their information, especially Amazon, "wrote Schiff to Bezos.
The California Democrat has voiced concerns about Amazon's algorithms, citing information that the platform would recommend anti-vaccine books or films, or skeptical about vaccines, even when people are not actively looking for them.
"As the world's largest online marketplace, Amazon is uniquely positioned to influence consumption," said Schiff. "However, the algorithms that feed social media platforms and Amazon's recommendations are not designed to distinguish quality information from erroneous or misleading information, which is why harmful anti-vaccine messages have been able to develop and spread. "
Schiff noted that most of Amazon's top-selling, best-selling books in the "vaccines" category promote anti-vaccine messaging.
The Amazon books sales guidelines do not specify how to handle the spread of misinformation posing a risk to public health.
A spokesman for the company confirmed to The Hill that Amazon had received Schiff's letter and was currently reviewing it.
Various important online sites have taken steps to limit the content of anti-vaccines on their platforms.
Pinterest recently announced that it would not return the results of vaccine-related research.
YouTube has also announced its intention to demonetize videos that convey inaccurate information about vaccines and is committed to no longer recommending these videos to users.
Facebook said it was reviewing its options.
Last month, Schiff called Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg On this topic, he stated that YouTube, Instagram and Facebook "are surfacing and recommending messages that discourage parents from vaccinating their children, posing a direct threat to public health and reversing the progress made in the fight against preventable diseases. vaccination".
Now the democrat turns his anger towards Amazon.
"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 have a negative influence on the drug." users' attitude towards vaccination, "wrote Schiff to Bezos.
He sent several questions to Amazon to determine if the anti-vaccine content violated the company's terms of service, what actions he undertook to remove the contents of his platform and he agreed to the advertising anti-vaccine groups.
In 2015, Schiff presented the resolution on vaccines saves lives, saying that vaccines are vital and essential to public health.
"As more and more Americans view your services as their primary source of information, it is essential that you take this responsibility seriously, and nowhere in the areas of public health and public health. children, "wrote Schiff.
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