From Facebook to YouTube: The Potential Exposure to COVID-19 Anti-Vaccine Videos on Social Media

Abstract

This article examines the role of Facebook and YouTube in potentially exposing people to COVID-19 vaccine–related misinformation. Specifically, to study the potential level of exposure, the article models a uni-directional information-sharing pathway beginning when a Facebook user encounters a vaccine-related post with a YouTube video, follows this video to YouTube, and then sees a list of related videos automatically recommended by YouTube. The results demonstrate that despite the efforts by Facebook and YouTube, COVID-19 vaccine–related misinformation in the form of anti-vaccine videos propagates on both platforms. Because of these apparent gaps in platform-led initiatives to combat misinformation, public health agencies must be proactive in creating vaccine promotion campaigns that are highly visible on social media to overtake anti-vaccine videos’ prominence in the network. By examining related videos that a user potentially encounters, the article also contributes practical insights to identify influential YouTube channels for public health agencies to collaborate with on their public service announcements about the importance of vaccination programs and vaccine safety.

Mechanisms Driving Online Vaccine Debate During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Although Twitter data may not accurately represent the entire population, it does offer a substantial sample of individuals who have an interest in the subject. Nevertheless, future studies can improve the research by considering other social media platforms, such as Gruzd et al (2023), which compared Facebook and YouTube content, and incorporating additional types of data, such as surveys, to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the issue.…”

“…In light of these, our study aims to expand the knowledge of vaccine debate in the Turkish Twittersphere by mapping the sources and mechanisms behind it. Although support against vaccination was evidenced in multiple social media platforms in other contexts (e.g., Gruzd et al, 2023), we chose Twitter for this particular study due to the platform being the prominent source of information among Turkish citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic (Gülsoy et al, 2022), as well as the higher volume of content it has about COVID-19 compared with other social media platforms (Cinelli et al, 2020).…”

Between alternative and traditional social platforms: the case of gab in exploring the narratives on the pandemic and vaccines

“…Many studies described how social media, despite their efforts to remove COVID-19 vaccine–related misinformation, have featured as vectors for vaccination hesitation in many countries worldwide (Lou and Ahmed, 2019 ; Burki, 2020 ; Gruzd et al, 2023 ). In this way, hesitant reactions were driven by many different reasons related to any other effects of misinformation as in the AstraZeneca case in Italy (Crescentini and Padricelli, 2023 ), through false crossclaims about the vaccine efficiency ‘not constrained within a single platform' (Gruzd et al, 2023 ).…”

Trust and Safety on Social Media: Understanding the Impact of Anti-Social Behavior and Misinformation on Content Moderation and Platform Governance

“…Even though measuring the extent of misinformation on social media can be challenging due to its various forms and often ephemeral nature, researchers have extensively documented its impact, spread, and prevalence across social media platforms (e.g., Chen, Xiao & Kumar, 2023;van der Linden, 2022). This phenomenon is particularly evident in discussions of politically polarized topics, such as gun control (Williams, 2022), climate change (Falkenberg et al, 2022), abortion (Pagoto et al, 2023), vaccination (Gruzd et al, 2023), refugees (Zhen et al, 2023), and more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic (Gruzd et al, 2021). In its most dangerous form, misinformation turns into disinformation when it is deliberately used to deceive, polarize, or radicalize the population.…”