YouTube said last Wednesday (29 September) that it will ban any content containing misinformation regarding the COVID-19 vaccine as well as accounts of several prominent anti-vaccine activists.

“We've steadily seen false claims about the coronavirus vaccines spill over into misinformation about vaccines in general, and we're now at a point where it's more important than ever to expand the work we started with COVID-19 to other vaccines,” YouTube said.

YouTube Indonesia spokesperson told TFR that in deciding whether a certain content contains vaccine-related misinformation, YouTube will refer to its Community Guidelines on Vaccine Misinformation, encouraging people to not post content if it includes harmful misinformation about currently approved and administered vaccines. 

“We rely on a combination of people and technology to flag inappropriate content and enforce these guidelines. Flags can come from our automated flagging systems, or from users in the broader YouTube community,” the spokesperson explained.

According to the New York Times, researchers found that the proliferation of anti-vaccine content on social networks is a factor causing vaccine hesitancy. 

Director-General of the World Health Organisation Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also once stated that “we’re not just fighting an epidemic; [but] we’re [also] fighting an infodemic.”

The WHO is working with search and media companies, such as Facebook, Google, Pinterest, Tencent, Twitter, TikTok and YouTube, to counter the spread of rumours and misinformation. Facebook and Twitter have also banned all kinds of misinformation about vaccines. 

“We understand that some vaccine related information is in the form of personal testimony. Understand that we allow personal testimony about vaccines on YouTube as long as it doesn’t: 1. make generalisations about vaccines; 2. demonstrate a pattern for the channel of promoting vaccine hesitancy; or 3. violate other Community Guidelines. We think this is an important part of being an open platform and making sure people can share their personal experiences, including personal experiences with vaccinations,” the spokesperson added.