Fake news or weak science? Visibility and characterization of antivaccine webpages returned by Google in different languages and countries
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 Go...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2018
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/81138 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/45066 |
| _version_ | 1826110768095952896 |
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| author | Bizzi, Isabella Harb Arif, Nadia Al-Jefri, Majed Perano, Gianni Boitano Goldman, Michel Haq, Inam Chua, Kee Leng Mengozzi, Manuela Neunez, Marie Smith, Helen Ghezzi, Pietro |
| author2 | Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) |
| author_facet | Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) Bizzi, Isabella Harb Arif, Nadia Al-Jefri, Majed Perano, Gianni Boitano Goldman, Michel Haq, Inam Chua, Kee Leng Mengozzi, Manuela Neunez, Marie Smith, Helen Ghezzi, Pietro |
| author_sort | Bizzi, Isabella Harb |
| collection | NTU |
| description | 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 pro-vaccine (43–70%). However, their ranking by Google varied. While in Google.com, the first vaccine-negative website was the 43rd in the SERP, there was one vaccine-negative webpage in the top 10 websites in both the British and Australian localized versions and in French and two in Italian, Portuguese, and Mandarin, suggesting that the information quality algorithm used by Google may work better in English. Many webpages mentioned celebrities in the context of the link between vaccines and autism, with Donald Trump most frequently. Few websites (1–5%) promoted complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) but 50–100% of these were also vaccine-negative suggesting that CAM users are more exposed to vaccine-negative information. This analysis highlights the need for monitoring the web for information impacting on vaccine uptake. |
| first_indexed | 2024-10-01T02:39:52Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | ntu-10356/81138 |
| institution | Nanyang Technological University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-10-01T02:39:52Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | ntu-10356/811382020-11-01T05:11:33Z Fake news or weak science? Visibility and characterization of antivaccine webpages returned by Google in different languages and countries Bizzi, Isabella Harb Arif, Nadia Al-Jefri, Majed Perano, Gianni Boitano Goldman, Michel Haq, Inam Chua, Kee Leng Mengozzi, Manuela Neunez, Marie Smith, Helen Ghezzi, Pietro Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) Information Quality Google 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 pro-vaccine (43–70%). However, their ranking by Google varied. While in Google.com, the first vaccine-negative website was the 43rd in the SERP, there was one vaccine-negative webpage in the top 10 websites in both the British and Australian localized versions and in French and two in Italian, Portuguese, and Mandarin, suggesting that the information quality algorithm used by Google may work better in English. Many webpages mentioned celebrities in the context of the link between vaccines and autism, with Donald Trump most frequently. Few websites (1–5%) promoted complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) but 50–100% of these were also vaccine-negative suggesting that CAM users are more exposed to vaccine-negative information. This analysis highlights the need for monitoring the web for information impacting on vaccine uptake. Published version 2018-07-10T01:39:37Z 2019-12-06T14:22:18Z 2018-07-10T01:39:37Z 2019-12-06T14:22:18Z 2018 Journal Article Arif, N., Al-Jefri, M., Bizzi, I. H., Perano, G. B., Goldman, M., Haq, I., et al. (2018). Fake News or Weak Science? Visibility and Characterization of Antivaccine Webpages Returned by Google in Different Languages and Countries. Frontiers in Immunology, 9. 1664-3224 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/81138 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/45066 10.3389/fimmu.2018.01215 en Frontiers in Immunology © 2018 Arif, Al-Jefri, Bizzi, Perano, Goldman, Haq, Chua, Mengozzi, Neunez, Smith and Ghezzi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. 12 p. application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | Information Quality Bizzi, Isabella Harb Arif, Nadia Al-Jefri, Majed Perano, Gianni Boitano Goldman, Michel Haq, Inam Chua, Kee Leng Mengozzi, Manuela Neunez, Marie Smith, Helen Ghezzi, Pietro Fake news or weak science? Visibility and characterization of antivaccine webpages returned by Google in different languages and countries |
| title | Fake news or weak science? Visibility and characterization of antivaccine webpages returned by Google in different languages and countries |
| title_full | Fake news or weak science? Visibility and characterization of antivaccine webpages returned by Google in different languages and countries |
| title_fullStr | Fake news or weak science? Visibility and characterization of antivaccine webpages returned by Google in different languages and countries |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fake news or weak science? Visibility and characterization of antivaccine webpages returned by Google in different languages and countries |
| title_short | Fake news or weak science? Visibility and characterization of antivaccine webpages returned by Google in different languages and countries |
| title_sort | fake news or weak science visibility and characterization of antivaccine webpages returned by google in different languages and countries |
| topic | Information Quality |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10356/81138 http://hdl.handle.net/10220/45066 |
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