Web giants told to stop vaccine myths spreading

SOCIAL media firms could face new legislation to stop anti-vaccination myths being spread online.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Facebook, Twitter and other sites must clamp down on damaging claims.

‘I want to see social media companies doing far, far more to take down this material,’ he told BBC Breakfast. ‘Vaccines only work if almost everybody takes them. That is the whole point. This is exactly the sort of thing we should be spending our time on and talking about and, if necessary, legislating for.’

Earlier this year, the Royal Society for Public Health published a report saying social media had become a ‘breeding ground for misleading information’ about vaccinations.

But Thomas Hughes, of freedom of expression group ARTICLE 19, said: ‘Forcing social media companies to decide what information is “false” could lead to censorship, particularly if algorithms are used to remove content automatically.’