Fake News or Weak Science? Visibility and Characterization of Antivaccine Webpages Returned by Google in Different Languages and Countries.

ABSTRACT: The 1998 Lancet paper by Wakefield et al., despite subsequent retraction and evidence indicating no causal link between vaccinations and autism, triggered significant parental concern. The aim of this study was to analyze the online information available on this topic. Using localized versions of Google, we searched "autism vaccine" in English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Mandarin, and Arabic and analyzed 200 websites for each search engine result page (SERP). A common feature was the newsworthiness of the topic, with news outlets representing 25-50% of the SERP, followed by unaffiliated websites (blogs, social media) that represented 27-41% and included most of the vaccine-negative websites. Between 12 and 24% of websites had a negative stance on vaccines, while most websites were

SUBMITTER: Arif N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5996113 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature