My most recent column discussed the problem of pseudoscience that pervades some corners of the Internet. Personally, I respond to pseudoscience primarily by trying to provide accurate and less-biased information. I recognize that not everyone approaches decision making by seeking more information. When dealing a diverse public, a medical professional needs to have other approaches in the armamentarium.1 When dealing with other physicians, I am less flexible. Either the profession of medicine believes in science or it doesn’t.
Since that column was published, there have been major developments. There are measles outbreaks in the states of Washington and New York, and more than 100 deaths from a measles epidemic in the Philippines. The World Health Organization has made vaccine hesitancy one of its ten threats to global health in 2019.
Facebook has indicated that it might demote the priority and frequency with which it recommends articles that promulgate anti-vax information and conspiracy theories.2 Facebook isn’t doing this because it has had an epiphany; it has come under pressure for its role in the spread of misinformation. Current legislation was written before the rise of social media, when Internet Service Providers were primarily conduits to transfer bits and bytes between computers. Those ISPs were not liable for the content of the transmitted Web pages. Facebook, by producing what it called a newsfeed and by making personalized suggestions for other websites to browse, doesn’t fit the passive model of an ISP.
For alleged violations of user’s privacy, Facebook might be subject to billion dollar fines, according to a Washington Post article.3 Still, for a company whose revenue is $4 billion per month and whose stock market value is $400 billion, paying a billion dollar fine for years of alleged misbehaviors that have enabled it to become a giant empire is, “in the scheme of things ... a speeding ticket” in the parlance of the penultimate scene of the movie The Social Network. The real financial risk is people deciding they can’t trust the platform and going elsewhere.
Authorities in the United Kingdom in February 2019 released a highly critical, 108-page report about fake news, which said, “Facebook should not be allowed to behave like ‘digital gangsters’ in the online world.”4 The U.K. report urges new regulations to deal with privacy breaches and with fake news. It endeavors to create a duty for social media companies to combat the spread of misinformation.
Then the Wall Street Journal reported that Pinterest has stopped returning results for searches related to vaccination.5 Pinterest realized that most of the shared images on its platform cautioned against vaccination, which contradicts the recommendations of medical experts. Unable to otherwise combat the flow of misinformation, the company apparently has decided to eliminate returning results, pro or con, for any search terms related to vaccines.
Dr. Kevin T. Powell
While lamenting the public’s inability to distinguish misinformation on the Internet, I’ve also been observing the factors that lead physicians astray. I expect physicians, as trained scientists and as professionals, to be able to assimilate new information and change their practices accordingly. Those who do research on the translation of technology find that, this doesn’t happen with any regularity.
The February 2019 issue of Hospital Pediatrics has four items on the topic of treating bronchiolitis, including two research articles, a brief report, and a commentary. That is obviously a relevant topic this time of year. The impression after reading those four items is that hospitalists don’t really know how to best treat the most common illness they encounter. And even when they “know” how to do it, many factors distort the science. Those factors are highlighted in the article on barriers to minimizing viral testing.6
Dr. Powell is a pediatric hospitalist and clinical ethics consultant living in St. Louis. Email him at pdnews@mdedge.com.
References
1. “Discussing immunization with vaccine-hesitant parents requires caring, individualized approach,” by Jeff Craven, Pediatric News, Nov. 7, 2018; “How do you get anti-vaxxers to vaccinate their kids? Talk to them – for hours,” by Nadine Gartner, Washington Post, Feb. 19, 2019.
2. “Facebook will consider removing or demoting anti-vaccination recommendations amid backlash,” by Taylor Telford, Washington Post, Feb. 15, 2019.
3. “U.S. regulators have met to discuss imposing a record-setting fine against Facebook for privacy violations,” by Tony Romm and Elizabeth Dwoskin, Washington Post, Jan. 18, 2019; “Report: Facebook, FTC discussing ‘multibillion dollar’ fine,” by Associated Press.
4. “Disinformation and ‘fake news’: Final Report,” House of Commons, Feb. 18, 2019, p. 42, item 139.
5. “Pinterest blocks vaccination searches in move to control the conversation,” by Robert McMillan and Daniela Hernandez, The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 20, 2019.
6. “Barriers to minimizing respiratory viral testing in bronchiolitis: Physician perceptions on testing practices,” by MZ Huang et al. Hospital Pediatrics 2019 Feb. doi: 10.1542/hpeds.2018-0108.