Health Misinformation - Covid Vaccine

[MinkyGreen]

@mnhq

The Covid boards are riddled with health misinformation posts, links, highly dubious anecdotal evidence about the vaccine. There seems to be a recent influx of these type of posts. I’ve reported some, but they are not getting removed. Also - where they are getting removed, the same posters keep coming back. I’m surprised they haven’t been warned or banned.

Mumsnet surely has a duty of care to it’s readers? If say - a pregnant woman was reading those threads I think it could encourage her to go against the advice of her doctor and cause a lot of anxiety or potential harm.

Hello @MinkyGreen thanks for posting. We'll take another look at the posts you reported now.

We understand why you'd have concerns about misinformation given the extent of it across the internet. We generally make a distinction between posters who have perhaps read something elsewhere that has made them anxious and who may just want more info or reassurance, and those who obviously have a specific agenda to share an extreme point of view.

Our overall aim is to make parent's lives easier and we moderate with this in mind. Clearly, 'fake news' or bad science isn't helpful for anyone, least of all parents - though we do find this kind of thing is quickly and robustly challenged on the boards - and we'll also remove links to dubious sources when reported.

The two threads I’ve reported have turned pretty nasty now. Is it possible you could step in and post on each thread? Namely by stating Mumsnets stance : and reiterating the global guidelines about vaccine safety? I’d hate for anyone pregnant/vulnerable to be scared and read some of the misinformation on those threads. @YetAnotherBeckyMumsnet