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YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content

washingtonpost.com

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Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content

#821

Post by summerlight »

Not sure if everyone has read the actual policy (https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/11161123) but for those who hasn't:

    Don’t post content on YouTube if it includes harmful misinformation about currently approved and administered vaccines on any of the following:
    * Vaccine safety: content alleging that vaccines cause chronic side effects, outside of rare side effects that are recognized by health authorities
    * Efficacy of vaccines: content claiming that vaccines do not reduce transmission or contraction of disease 
    * Ingredients in vaccines: content misrepresenting the substances contained in vaccines
Also, the policy states some exceptional cases such as countervailing views with a support from medical experts, firsthand experiences, etc.

Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content

#822

Post by grillvogel »

summerlight wrote: post #821

Not sure if everyone has read the actual policy ( https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/11161123 ) but for those who hasn't: Don’t post content on YouTube if it includes harmful misinformation about currently approved and administered vaccines on any of the following: * Vaccine safety: content alleging that vaccines cause chronic side effects, outside of rare side effects that are recognized by health authorities…

this is legitimately dystopian. only can mention side effects that have been "recognized by health authorities" ? how would whistleblowing even be possible in this environment?

Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content

#823

Post by mdp2021 »

Meanwhile, it seems that Russia has complained in the past 24 hours against some censorship on YT, based on "the fight against covid related misinformation", and raised a diplomatic issue accusing Germany to have supported the censorship.

Some may find curious or even amusing this odd paragraph on Le Monde:

> A la fin de janvier, le président Poutine avait jugé que les entreprises majeures du secteur de l’Internet étaient « en concurrence » avec les Etats. Il dénonçait leurs « tentatives de contrôler brutalement la société ».

The main online enterprises being in competition with the states - in the attempt to brutally control society?! The formulation could probably have been less "suggestive".

https://www.lemonde.fr/pixels/article/2021/09/29/moscou-mena...

Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content

#824

Post by heartbreak »

monocularvision wrote: post #793
ohdannyboy wrote: post #290

I was hesitant for a while and the massive censorship was part of it. I got vaccinated in May and have convinced others to get the shot since the side effects, while existent, appear to be minor compared to the reduction in harmful symptoms. Talking to my doctor is what did it for me. He cleared up most of my concerns and pressed me that my remaining concerns were too nebulous to be useful. If he just said "shut up a…

My wife’s theory is there would be less hesitancy if the vaccines were being distributed through people’s primary care physicians instead of at mass vaccination sites or Walgreens. People may distrust the media, the government and all sorts of other nebulous groups, but they largely trust their doctor.

You can almost certainly get the vaccine from your physician, and you can also call your physician’s office and leave a message asking them whether you should get vaccinated. They’ll call you back.

Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content

#825

Post by bwship »

The funny part of this whole thing. Is that the same people that all they do is complain about privacy concerns by Apple and Alexa etc. here on HN are the same people that consistently downvote anything I say that is anti-vaccine. I thought this community knew no blind spots. Even if I am dead wrong on my stance, the concept that it gets downvoted just because I have a differing opinion is pathetic.

Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content

#826

Post by superzadeh »

chefkoch wrote: post #732
ada1981 wrote: post #730

How about banning any videos that present literal Bible content, for example.

i don't think believing in the bible is killing hundreds a day in the US.

Take a look outside the US, you’d be surprised. The world is not centered around the US.

Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content

#827

Post by ptaipale »

jjtgbbjui wrote: post #690
ookblah wrote: post #50

Someone want to throw out there a better way to combat disinformation than just armchair criticizing their decision? I almost feel like people are siding with the anti-vaxxers out of "principle". Just a no win situation. It's too easy for bad characters to screw up an entire system with little effort (look at trolls, spammers, etc). Either you moderate everyone and slippery slope down into censorship where the tools…

Provide a better education for the poor. I don’t mean education about a particular subject; better education in general. In almost all conspiracy theories, one side has a lot of facts, the other has a lot of “feelings”. If you try having a conversation with someone who believes in some conspiracy you’ll eventually get to “I just don’t feel…”

Covid vaccine hesitancy does not seem to be about poor education, nor about poverty. The visible antivaxx activists are well-to-do people.

Distrust of government and authorities is a big factor. You have much more vaccine hesitancy in the U.S. than in Nordics (high-trust societies); Russians and Bulgarians are extremely sceptic of their governments, and extremely sceptic of vaccines.

https://ourworldindata.org/explorers/coronavirus-data-explor...

Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content

#828

Post by Broken_Hippo »

oauea wrote: post #693
ohdannyboy wrote: post #290

I was hesitant for a while and the massive censorship was part of it. I got vaccinated in May and have convinced others to get the shot since the side effects, while existent, appear to be minor compared to the reduction in harmful symptoms. Talking to my doctor is what did it for me. He cleared up most of my concerns and pressed me that my remaining concerns were too nebulous to be useful. If he just said "shut up a…

Hey, if you want to die, go for it. It's your freedom.

I'd agree if we were talking something akin to choosing not to take insulin even though you can easily afford it or refusing to treat an easily treatable cancer.

If you catch covid, there is a good chance you'll pass it onto others, unlike the previous maladies. And that is a real problem: Some of those people will die, most will pass on the virus to others, and a good number of folks wind up in the hospital.

And that's happening so much that folks are dying from non-covid things as well.

Pretty much, if you choose to die from Covid, you are going to take others down with you.

Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content

#829

Post by MrRiddle »

ookblah wrote: post #50

Someone want to throw out there a better way to combat disinformation than just armchair criticizing their decision? I almost feel like people are siding with the anti-vaxxers out of "principle". Just a no win situation. It's too easy for bad characters to screw up an entire system with little effort (look at trolls, spammers, etc). Either you moderate everyone and slippery slope down into censorship where the tools…

You don’t, like you’re not supposed to lead war on drugs. It’s a battle against the symptoms not the cause.

Re: YouTube is banning anti-vaccine activists and blocking all anti-vaccine content

#830

Post by [deleted] »

deadpannini wrote: post #796
ookblah wrote: post #50

Someone want to throw out there a better way to combat disinformation than just armchair criticizing their decision? I almost feel like people are siding with the anti-vaxxers out of "principle". Just a no win situation. It's too easy for bad characters to screw up an entire system with little effort (look at trolls, spammers, etc). Either you moderate everyone and slippery slope down into censorship where the tools…

"Someone want to throw out there a better way to combat disinformation than just armchair criticizing their decision?" Yes. Combat disinformation by refuting it. This requires credibility, and censorship is one of the fastest ways to burn that down.

[deleted]
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