Although overtly anti-vaccine content has been banned from Facebook since December, the researchers employed by the platform seem to be interested in the comments of Internet users. According to documents obtained by the Washington Post, comments below serious news reporting, for example, real or fictitious side effects, could indeed “be important to promote useful conversations, or even to trace unknown information to the authorities of the health. But at the same time, they could contribute to vaccine hesitation by playing on fears. “
It is not clear whether the objective of this research is to try to get the algorithm to distinguish between the useful and the unnecessary. But the research already seems to be pointing in the direction of these “super-propagators” that we have already talked about in recent months: in the United States, on 638 “segments of the population” – in the jargon of Facebook researchers – only 10 contained half of the “vaccine hesitancy contents”. And in the most active segment of the population, 111 users contributed half of the content.
These are preliminary data, which have not yet been published. But if they do hold true, they will confirm a reality that emerges from other research on disinformation: when it comes to spreading fake news, some users are much more influential than others. And this is a reality that refers to the concept of an echo chamber, where these contents, even if they are transmitted only by a small number of users, can amplify beliefs within a larger community.
The research would also have identified crosses between communities “skeptical of vaccines” and communities affiliated to QAnon – a fact which is not new, other researchers having identified since last year of the “strategic” mergers, on the social media, between QAnon or far-right groups and “alternative medicine” groups. Better understanding these strategies, or the reasons for their success, could also help counter them.
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