Major groups behind anti-vaccine Facebook advertising The finding that the majority of anti-vaccination Facebook advertising is from two groups also bucks perceptions around anti-vaccine messaging.
The average person might think that this anti-vaccine movement is a grassroots effort led by parents, but what we see on Facebook is that there are a handful of well-connected, powerful people who are responsible for the majority of advertisements, said study first author Amelia Jamison, a faculty research assistant in the Maryland Center for Health Equity.
These buyers are more organised than people think. While Facebook has already taken steps to update its vaccination advertising policies, the researchers argue that more must be done to ensure the social media giants dominance does allow misinformation to be perpetuated.
In todays social media world, Facebook looms large as a source of information for many, yet their policies have made it more difficult for users to discern what is legitimate, credible vaccine information, said study principal investigator Sandra Crouse Quinn, professor and chair of the Department of Family Science at University of Marylands School of Public Health.
This puts public health officials, with limited staff resources for social media campaigns, at a true disadvantage, just when we need to communicate the urgency of vaccines as a means to protect our children and our families.