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Drowned out by the algorithm: Vaccination advocates struggle to be heard online
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| Parent(s) |
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| Contributor | IndyGeorgia |
| Last Edited | IndyGeorgia Feb 26, 2019 07:48pm |
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| Category | General |
| Author | Brandy Zadrozny |
| News Date | Tuesday, February 26, 2019 07:25:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | In 2008, Vaccinate Your Family, the nation’s largest nonprofit dedicated to advocating for vaccinations, had to stop posting videos to YouTube.
Then known as Every Child By Two, the organization had used its channel on the massive video platform to post interviews with doctors, public service announcements and testimonials from parents of children who had died of vaccine-preventable diseases.
But those messages were quickly sabotaged. YouTube’s recommendation system, which appears alongside videos and suggests what users should watch next, would direct viewers to anti-vaccination videos, according to Amy Pisani, executive director of Vaccinate Your Family.
“When we would put things on YouTube, it was followed by an anti-vaccination video,” Pisani told NBC News. YouTube’s recommendation system, powered by an algorithm that the company does not make public, has been criticized in recent years for favoring controversial and conspiratorial content. The company has said that it changed the system to point to more “authoritative” sources. |
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