Anti-vaccine discourse on YouTube: the mediation of influencers

• Main Authors: Antonio Marcos Pereira Brotas, Márcia Cristina Rocha Costa, Junia Ortiz, Caio Costa Santos, Luisa Massarani
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto de Comunicação e Informação Científica e Tecnológica em Saúde (Icict) da Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz) 2021-03-01
• Series: RECIIS
• Subjects: desinformação; antivacina; discurso; youtube; influenciadores.
• Online Access: https://www.reciis.icict.fiocruz.br/index.php/reciis/article/view/2281

This article presents results from a research on anti-vaccine speech in 14 of the most relevant YouTube videos showed in 2018 and 2019, considering the amount of views, likes, dislikes, and comments. The study identifies arguments and meanings constructed by the mediators, from the natural perspective, which associates vaccine with the idea of poison, risks and death; and the political perspective, which triggers individual freedoms and power plans for big pharma’s population reduction and profit. At the intersection between the two perspectives, religious aspects make up the frame of the discourses. The qualitative and quantitative analysis points to the need to invest in communication strategies that clarify and deconstruct the disseminated false or distorted information. It also signals the importance of dialogue with an unbelieving public with political, scientific and media institutions, where the threat of punishment by law is no obstacle to vaccine refusal or hesitation.