Social media must do more to inoculate against COVID-19 misinformation

After a long and difficult year, the country is turning a corner on COVID-19. As California receives more vaccine supply and expands vaccine eligibility, there’s reason to be hopeful.

At the California Immunization Coalition, we’re working with local and state partners to ensure that every Californian has access to life-saving vaccines to protect from disease, disability and death.

COVID-19 has impacted every aspect of our country. Our best shot to return to normalcy is to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible. To date, nearly 287 million Americans — including 36 million and counting in California — have received at least one dose of vaccine.

We must continue to vaccinate Californians against COVID-19 while also working to immunize the public against dangerous, misleading anti-vaccine misinformation that has been widely spread on social media platforms.

Coordinated campaigns by the anti-vaccine industry to propagate disinformation are threatening national progress and the health of individuals. Leaders in the anti-vaccine space are exploiting social media platforms and targeting communities who are susceptible to their messaging due to long-held distrust in the government or organized medicine.

These individuals are not credible health experts or medical professionals. In truth, they are irresponsible “influencers” peddling disreputable medical advice that lacks evidence and scientific basis. By spreading disinformation that plays on people’s fears, they’ve created lucrative networks and channels of promotion from which to sell books, solicit donations and generate advertising revenue.

While they pocket the dollars and gather followers, there are real-world public health consequences.

Already prone to health disparities, COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted low-income and minority populations — making immunizations of these communities critical to recovery. Appallingly, anti-vaccine activities are preying on these demographics and exploiting historically rooted mistrust of the medical community to push their agenda.

Research has shown that there is a significant relationship between anti-vaccine activists organizing on social media and the rise in public doubts of vaccine safety.

It’s an outcome we can’t risk — especially as we seek to re-empower and heal hurting communities. That is why it is of the utmost importance to educate the public about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and combat disinformation spread by anti-vax leaders to ensure that Americans can make informed decisions about vaccinating themselves and their children.

This goal cannot be undertaken without a critical look at how internet platforms are regulating anti-vaccine messages.

While Facebook and Twitter have demonstrated a willingness to help crack down on misinformation on their platforms, they must follow through with concrete action to enforce their policies. Removing leading anti-vax activists will eliminate a large chunk of the anti-vaccine content that is spread and shared on these platforms.

Social media platform operators must do more to help inoculate against COVID-19 misinformation.

I’m proud that our organization is represented by Rep. Doris Matsui, who believes in the importance of immunizations and has worked to support an efficient roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines. Matsui has an opportunity to continue this work as tech executives from Google, Facebook and Twitter come before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, of which she is a member, to testify on what their companies are doing to protect the American public against disinformation on their platforms.

To safely and successfully reopen the country and repair the economic and societal damage of the COVID-19 pandemic, we must first ensure people receive factual information on vaccines and how to protect themselves. With the ubiquity of social media — and known threat of anti-vaccine leaders on their platforms — tech executives must be part of the solution.

This story was originally published May 31, 2021 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Social media must do more to inoculate against COVID-19 misinformation."