No More ANTI-VAX information on Social Media?

Social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are banning anti-vaccine information. Since the start of the vaccination period, many people from all over the world have been skeptical about taking a jab. Some are not very confident with the expeditious production of the vaccines, prompting questions about its safety and effectivity. Others were swayed by the articles and random posts that they have read on social media platforms. Recently, former Facebook employees leaked information about how the biggest social media company will censor posts from covid-19 vaccine skeptics. More recently, Youtube, the biggest video streaming company, also announced that it will block all anti-vaccine content. The main reason for the social media companies is to simply boost the vaccination campaign all over the world by providing people more access to factual and scientific information, and eventually have better-educated social media users.

Consequently, many vloggers and bloggers had their channels or pages taken down by social media companies. Dr. Joseph Mercola, who is dubbed as the covid-19 misinformation “superspreader”, has been banned by Youtube. In an interview with Aljazeera, he said in a statement “We are united across the world, we will not live in fear, we will stand together and restore our freedoms.”. Similarly, Robert F. Kennedy Jr,  a member of an influential political family in the USA, has also been banned from Youtube as the media giants call him an Anti-vaxxer. In a statement with Aljazeera, he said “There is no instance in history when censorship and secrecy has advanced either democracy or public health.”. Furthermore, many are supporting the actions that the social media giants are taking, including the United States government. On the other hand, some people think this is a way of stripping them from their freedom to speak up for what they believe in. Freedom of speech is vital in a democratic nation most especially in a country like the USA, and censoring people from posting articles and content that they believe in would somehow defeat the essence of freedom of speech.

Opinion

As a vaccinated individual, I believe that people should get vaccinated for the world to heal and to go back to “normal”. But to achieve this, it is important for people to get further educated about the available vaccines, and the government along with the pharmaceutical industry should practice transparency to gain the trust of the people. With this, I understand why there are people who are skeptical about getting a jab because of how secretive and tight-lipped the government and pharmaceutical industries have been in regards to the issue surrounding the almost immediate production of the vaccine. Censoring the so-called “anti-vax” would not change the minds of those who are skeptical about the vaccine, instead, it will worsen their fear and aggravation of the government and distrust in science. With that being said, I firmly believe that the internet should stay as a space where people could give their opinions freely and a place where the so-called “netizens” could access different information. Of course, there should be a borderline but not to the extent where the government and big techs could easily silence people for having a different opinion. I would not want to live in a world where people would be stopped from expressing their unpopular opinion because that would defeat the purpose of freedom of speech. Ultimately, silencing and banning unpopular takes on Covid-19 from social media would not stop a pandemic.