Pinterest users who search for help and advice about vaccines will be directed to public health bodies as part of Pinterest’s attempts to tack the spread of false information. Pinterest is a social media site which allows users to share images associated with a range of topics and can pin them to a digital personal pinboard.
Last year, the social media platform stopped showing results for vaccine searches to tackle misinformation. Under the new policies any searched for “measles,” “vaccine safety” and other related health terms will result in pins from public health bodies including the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centres for Disease Control and the WHO-established Vaccine Safety Net. This means users will not be getting incorrect information.
Pinterest explained in a blog post: “Last year, we made the decision to stop showing results for searches related to vaccines as a way to prevent people from encountering harmful health misinformation,”
“This new search experience only shows content from leading public health institutions – you won’t see any recommendations or comments on Pins in these results. We also won’t show ads.”
