Government regulation may be needed in order to address the growing proliferation of misinformation about vaccines on social media platforms, according to two George Washington University researchers. Misinformation about vaccinations is a public health risk that contributes to an increase in unvaccinated children and undermines herd immunity, they said.
Y. Tony Yang, a professor at the GW School of Nursing and Milken School of Public Health, and David Broniatowski, an associate professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, along with a colleague from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, recently published an article in JAMA Pediatrics detailing how governments should operate within the existing legal framework aimed to protect the Internet’s free market of ideas to combat misinformation.