Vaccines, Misinformation, And The Internet (Part 2)

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In the early days of social media, bad health information was rampant. But in that last few years, that's begun to change, says Renee DiResta of the Stanford Internet Observatory. "There was realization that there were certain societal harms that could be traced back to the absolute unfettered use of these platforms." Mandel Ngan/Getty Images hide caption

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Mandel Ngan/Getty Images

In the early days of social media, bad health information was rampant. But in that last few years, that's begun to change, says Renee DiResta of the Stanford Internet Observatory. "There was realization that there were certain societal harms that could be traced back to the absolute unfettered use of these platforms."

Mandel Ngan/Getty Images

In the second of two episodes exploring anti-vaccine misinformation online, Renee DiResta of the Stanford Internet Observatory explains why the Internet is so good at spreading bad information, and what big tech platforms are starting to do about it. Listen to the prior episode to hear more from Renee, and the story of pediatrician Nicole Baldwin, whose pro-vaccine TikTok video made her the target of harassment and intimidation from anti-vaccine activists online.

You can see Dr. Baldwin's original TikTok here.

Renee DiResta has written about how some anti-vaccine proponents harass, intimidate, and spread misinformation online here and here.

You can listen to Part 1 of "Vaccines, Misinformation, and the Internet" here.

This episode was produced by Brent Baughman, edited by Viet Le, and fact-checked by Emily Vaughn and Maddie Sofia.