Around the world, vaccine misinformation is threatening one of our most promising tools to fight COVID-19. While global vaccine hesitancy is said to be dropping, a new poll showed over 30% of surveyed Americans say they are still uncertain about getting or unwilling to receive a COVID-19 inoculation. Those on the front lines have already seen the reality of such statistics, as daily vaccination rates continue to stall in the United States.
Across Africa, where only 2% of the population has received at least one dose, concerns over very rare side effects, expiration dates, and general COVID-19 misinformation have hampered already struggling efforts.
While complacency and inconvenience in access are among the many reasons that some people may choose not to get vaccinated, a lack of confidence in vaccines — often caused by misinformation — is a key driver.
The overabundance and rapid spread of both accurate and inaccurate information during a disease outbreak — often referred to as an “infodemic” — are not new. However, today’s social media age provides ideal kindling for misinformation to create unprecedented wildfires of distrust in science and authoritative institutions.
To find solutions in this new era, we need to take chances and explore 21st century collaborations between technology companies and health authorities. During the pandemic, innovative solutions that marry more traditional public health interventions with the latest digital platforms have proven vital.
Early on, civil society groups, news organizations, United Nations agencies, and others put pressure on social media platforms to change their ways. Many urged tech companies to enact policies that defend science and leave no room for falsehoods on their platforms.
The World Health Organization, where I work, collaborated with YouTube to enhance its COVID-19 misinformation policy, which now unequivocally states that any content contradicting WHO’s COVID-19 recommendations is a violation. Thanks to this change, more than half a million harmful videos have been removed since last year.
While engraving the right policies into the foundation of social platforms is key, removing harmful content can be a whole other challenge, especially if these policies are not consistent across platforms.
Disinformation spreaders often avoid bans by skillfully flying under the radar — from creating human-like bot accounts to sharing posts that obscure or misrepresent sources of information. The sheer volume of such posts slows platforms’ ability to monitor and respond. That’s why it’s key for individuals to directly report false or misleading content for platforms to review.
To find solutions in this new era, we need to take chances and explore 21st century collaborations between technology companies and health authorities.
—However, seismic change calls for seismic action. Until platforms provide consistency and transparency on how they define harmful content, health authorities and the public will continue to play whack-a-mole with falsehoods online.
Combining industry-leading data analytics with public health communications is another essential solution for raising facts over fiction and directly responding to the public’s demand for information, while preserving the privacy, safety, and integrity of individual data.
For instance, the U.K. National Health Service recently partnered with YouTube to encourage young people to get the COVID-19 vaccine. With access to user and creator performance data, the platform is ensuring that vaccination public health messages reach the right ears, through the right voice.
When health authorities have access to emerging trends on search engines, we’re also able to listen to people's concerns and fill information gaps. When Google notified us that people were searching for ways to stay safe at small gatherings such as birthday parties, we deployed technical experts to develop new, targeted guidance.
In Latin America, against a local backdrop of widespread misinformation on bleach, chlorine, and “miracle mineral supplements,” Google also helped us identify trends and tapped health authorities to develop new public health guidance through pro bono ads. Latin America accounted for nearly half of WHO’s pro bono ads last year, demonstrating a need for reliable information in the region.
Building on this foundation, platforms need to increase access to emerging trends so that local NGOs, community leaders, governments, and national health authorities everywhere can effectively respond.
Reaching people where they search is also essential. And increasingly, people are both looking for reliable information and coming across misinformation on mobile phones. Throughout the pandemic, mobile chatbots have provided up-to-date COVID-19 news and information to millions of people in local languages. Chatbots are one way to use existing messaging services such as WhatsApp, Facebook, and Viber to reach audiences who may not actively seek accurate public health advice.
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However, we still need better mobile solutions to engage communities often left off the digital grid, such as illiterate populations in rural environments. Though mobile broadband reaches nearly every corner of the world, vast disparities in access to the internet in low-income and underserved communities make reaching the most vulnerable even harder. Organizations such as Viamo are addressing this gap by developing services with toll-free phone numbers for people to access prerecorded audio messages from health authorities in local languages.
No one organization or company alone can reach the world’s communities with trusted information while combating the onslaught of modern-day falsehoods. Companies and health authorities must continue to find new ways to collaborate to reverse the trend of misinformation.
This requires governments and tech companies to pursue the democratization of information by committing to broad transparency, ensuring access to data, and innovating to reach people everywhere. When individuals have access to accurate health information, they’re able to make healthy decisions that not only protect them but also keep our entire global community safe.