Thread: YouTube is banning prominent anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine con

SAN FRANCISCO — YouTube is taking down several video channels associated with high-profile anti-vaccine activists including Joseph Mercola and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who experts say are partially responsible for helping seed the skepticism that’s contributed to slowing vaccination rates across the country.

As part of a new set of policies aimed at cutting down on anti-vaccine content on the Google-owned site, YouTube will ban any videos that claim that commonly used vaccines approved by health authorities are ineffective or dangerous. The company previously blocked videos that made those claims about coronavirus vaccines, but not ones for other vaccines like those for measles or chickenpox.


Misinformation researchers have for years said the popularity of anti-vaccine content on YouTube was contributing to growing skepticism of lifesaving vaccines in the United States and around the world. Vaccination rates have slowed and about 56 percent of the U.S. population has had two shots, compared with 71 percent in Canada and 67 percent in the United Kingdom. In July, President Biden said social media companies were partially responsible for spreading misinformation about the vaccines, and need to do more to address the issue.


The change marks a shift for the social media giant, which streams more than 1 billion hours’ worth of content every day. Like its peers Facebook and Twitter, the company has long resisted policing content too heavily, arguing maintaining an open platform is critical to free speech. But as the companies increasingly come under fire from regulators, lawmakers and regular users for contributing to social ills — including vaccine skepticism — YouTube is again changing policies that it has held onto for months.


YouTube didn’t act sooner because it was focusing on misinformation specifically about coronavirus vaccines, said Matt Halprin, YouTube’s vice president of global trust and safety. When it noticed that incorrect claims about other vaccines were contributing to fears about the coronavirus vaccines, it expanded the ban.


“Developing robust policies takes time,” Halprin said. “We wanted to launch a policy that is comprehensive, enforceable with consistency and adequately addresses the challenge.”


Mercola, an alternative medicine entrepreneur, and Kennedy, a lawyer and the son of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy who has been a face of the anti-vaccine movement for years, have both said in the past that they are not automatically against all vaccines, but believe information about the risks of vaccines is being suppressed.


Facebook banned misinformation on all vaccines seven months ago, though the pages of both Mercola and Kennedy remain up on the social media site. Their Twitter accounts are active, too.


They did not immediately respond to requests for comment.


YouTube, Facebook and Twitter all banned misinformation about the coronavirus early on in the pandemic. But false claims continue to run rampant across all three of the platforms. The social networks are also tightly connected, with YouTube often serving as a library of videos that go viral on Twitter or Facebook. YouTube has removed over 133,000 videos for broadcasting coronavirus misinformation, Halprin said.


The companies have hired thousands of moderators and used high-tech image- and text-recognition algorithms to try to police misinformation. There are also millions of people with legitimate concerns about the medical system, and social media is a place where they go to ask real questions and express their concerns and fears, something the companies don’t want to squelch.


In the past, the company’s leaders have focused on trying to remove what they call “borderline” videos from its recommendation algorithms, allowing people to find them with specific searches but not necessarily promoting them into new people’s feeds. It’s also worked to push more authoritative health videos, like those made by hospitals and medical schools, to the top of search results for health-care topics.


But those methods haven’t stopped the spread of anti-vaccine and coronavirus misinformation. More than a year after YouTube said it would take down misinformation about the coronavirus vaccines, the accounts of six out of 12 anti-vaccine activists — identified by the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate as being behind much of the anti-vaccine content shared on social media — were easily searchable and still posting videos. Wednesday’s policy change means many of those will now be taken down.


The anti-vaccine movement goes back to well before the pandemic. False scientific claims that childhood vaccines caused autism made in the late 1990s have contributed to rising numbers of people refusing to let their kids get shots that had been commonplace for decades. As social media took over more of the media landscape, anti-vaccine activists spread their messages on Facebook parenting groups and through YouTube videos.


When the pandemic hit, and vaccines became a topic that was suddenly relevant to everyone, not just parents of young children, many went looking for answers online. Influencers like Mercola, Kennedy and alternative health advocate Erin Elizabeth Finn were able to supercharge their followings. Some anti-vaccine influencers, including Mercola, also sell natural health products, giving them a financial incentive to promote skepticism of mainstream medicine.


The anti-vaccine movement now also incorporates groups as diverse as conspiracy theorists who believe former president Donald Trump is still the rightful president, and some wellness influencers who see the vaccines as unnatural substances that will poison human bodies. All of the government-approved coronavirus vaccines have gone through rigorous testing and have been scientifically proved to be highly effective and safe.


YouTube’s new policy will still allow people to make claims based on their own personal experience, like a mother talking about side effects her child experienced after getting a vaccine, Halprin said. Scientific discussion of vaccines and posting about vaccines’ historical failures or successes will also be allowed, he said.


“We’ll remove claims that vaccines are dangerous or cause a lot of health effects, that vaccines cause autism, cancer, infertility or contain microchips,” Halprin said. “At least hundreds” of moderators at YouTube are working specifically on medical misinformation, he added. The policy will be enforced in all of the dozens of languages that YouTube operates in.


The company is also expanding its work to bring more videos from official sources onto the platform, like the National Academy of Medicine and the Cleveland Clinic, said Garth Graham, YouTube’s global head of health care and public health partnerships. The goal is to get videos with scientific information in front of people before they go down the rabbit hole of anti-vaccine content.


“There is information, not from us, but information from other researchers on health misinformation that has shown the earlier you can get information in front of someone before they form opinions, the better,” Graham said.

YouTube is banning prominent anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content

About fucking time!

I have written to Youtube asking them to decide what is acceptable on "Teakdoor",
Youtube, as a bastion of free speech, are perfectly qualified to decide what you can and cannot say on Teakdoor!!

Youtube censor about 30% of my responses - such a wonderful protector of free expression, they know more about me, than I do myself.

Oh.. the High Court of Australia, has now said - "Anyone commenting on ANY news item on ANY platform - the "platform" is responsible for their comments. CNN pulled out of it's FACEBOOK Australian News content:- http://CNN denies Australians access to its Facebook pages, cites defamation risk

Facebook the new Bastion of free speech, has now said: It is censoring Instagram... Wonderful news

Free expression online is under unprecedented strain. More governments arrested users for nonviolent political, social, or religious speech than ever before. Officials suspended internet access in at least 20 countries, and 21 states blocked access to social media platforms. Authorities in at least 45 countries are suspected of obtaining sophisticated spyware or data-extraction technology from private vendors.

We all know these Governments and Big Tech, know better than we do, what can and cannot be said - their agenda is pure and clean.

Originally Posted by Ennis

I have written to Youtube asking them to decide what is acceptable on "Teakdoor",
Youtube, as a bastion of free speech, are perfectly qualified to decide what you can and cannot say on Teakdoor!!

Youtube censor about 30% of my responses - such a wonderful protector of free expression, they know more about me, than I do myself.

Oh.. the High Court of Australia, has now said - "Anyone commenting on ANY news item on ANY platform - the "platform" is responsible for their comments. CNN pulled out of it's FACEBOOK Australian News content:- http://CNN denies Australians access to its Facebook pages, cites defamation risk

Facebook the new Bastion of free speech, has now said: It is censoring Instagram... Wonderful news

Free expression online is under unprecedented strain. More governments arrested users for nonviolent political, social, or religious speech than ever before. Officials suspended internet access in at least 20 countries, and 21 states blocked access to social media platforms. Authorities in at least 45 countries are suspected of obtaining sophisticated spyware or data-extraction technology from private vendors.

We all know these Governments and Big Tech, know better than we do, what can and cannot be said - their agenda is pure and clean.

Can i just say "Soapy Tit Wank".

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Can i just say "Soapy Tit Wank".

No I will not allow it!!!

Originally Posted by Ennis

I have written to Youtube asking them to decide what is acceptable on "Teakdoor",
Youtube, as a bastion of free speech, are perfectly qualified to decide what you can and cannot say on Teakdoor!!

Youtube censor about 30% of my responses - such a wonderful protector of free expression, they know more about me, than I do myself.

Oh.. the High Court of Australia, has now said - "Anyone commenting on ANY news item on ANY platform - the "platform" is responsible for their comments. CNN pulled out of it's FACEBOOK Australian News content:- http://CNN denies Australians access to its Facebook pages, cites defamation risk

Facebook the new Bastion of free speech, has now said: It is censoring Instagram... Wonderful news

Free expression online is under unprecedented strain. More governments arrested users for nonviolent political, social, or religious speech than ever before. Officials suspended internet access in at least 20 countries, and 21 states blocked access to social media platforms. Authorities in at least 45 countries are suspected of obtaining sophisticated spyware or data-extraction technology from private vendors.

We all know these Governments and Big Tech, know better than we do, what can and cannot be said - their agenda is pure and clean.

It's not a censorship issue.

Originally Posted by Ennis

No I will not allow it!!!

Well alright, I won't then.


*sulk*

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

Well alright, I won't then.


*sulk*

Glad you redeemed yourself, I was just about to report you to Youtube

The Nazi's had control of what people could read in the newspaper or hear on the radio, communist China and USSR did the same, the people in those places that expressed a different view where quickly silenced.

Watch Schindlers List.

Schindler'''s List (1993) - IMDb

Originally Posted by Ennis

We all know these Governments and Big Tech, know better than we do, what can and cannot be said - their agenda is pure and clean.

Sign up and use certain platforms you agree to their terms and conditions. If they feel you've worn out your welcome they can boot you out. Aggrieved? Start your own social media site. Publish what you like.

Originally Posted by happynz

Sign up and use certain platforms you agree to their terms and conditions. If they feel you've worn out your welcome they can boot you out. Aggrieved? Start your own social media site. Publish what you like.

Didn't a company called "parlor" try that

They tried. Still about I guess. They apparently violated the terms and conditions of their web server and had to go find another host.

Originally Posted by happynz

Sign up and use certain platforms you agree to their terms and conditions. If they feel you've worn out your welcome they can boot you out. Aggrieved? Start your own social media site. Publish what you like.

Coincidentally during Hitlers reign printers had to agree to terms and conditions

Only a whiny entitled moron would equate being unable to spread bullshit on Youtube to Nazi Germany.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

About fucking time!

I second that!!

Originally Posted by havnfun

The Nazi's had control of what people could read in the newspaper or hear on the radio, communist China and USSR did the same, the people in those places that expressed a different view where quickly silenced.

Watch Schindlers List.

Schindler'''s List (1993) - IMDb

Except youtube is not, nor is it controlled by, a political party so there's no comparison.

Also, you'd be the first to whinge about 'fake news', yet here we have a company rejecting fake news and you're complaining.