YouTube Removes Ads from Anti-Vaccine Channels

Vaccines are back in the news after recent measles outbreaks, and a BuzzFeed report earlier this week looked at how YouTube continues to promote anti-vaccine videos.

The concern about vaccine misinformation spreading has reached Capitol Hill. Congressman Adam Schiff sent a letter to both Facebook and Google about the issue earlier this month.

Facebook said it’s looking into the issue, and yesterday YouTube demonetized anti-vax channels.

Per BuzzFeed, following their initial reporting, YouTube said in a statement they would be demonetizing channels that promote such content:

“We have strict policies that govern what videos we allow ads to appear on, and videos that promote anti-vaccination content are a violation of those policies. We enforce these policies vigorously, and if we find a video that violates them, we immediately take action and remove ads.”

Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported this week that Pinterest is blocking vaccination searches in an attempt to crack down on misinformation.

[image via screengrab]

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