Fenomen ruchu antyszczepionkowego w cyberprzestrzeni, czyli fake news i postprawda na usługach hipotezy Andrew Wakefielda

The phenomenon of anti-vaccination movement in cyberspace, or fake news and post-truth in the service of Andrew Wakefield hypothesis Abstract The opponents of vaccinations have been expressing their concerns about the undesirable effects of vaccinations for more than two hundred years. They are guided by religious and ideological reasons and refuse to immunize themselves and children. They argue that the obligation to vaccinate is a limitation of their human rights. The vaccination movement has been present in the social sphere since the 19th century, however after the publication of Andrew Wakefield’s article on the subject of the alleged connection between vaccination and autism – the movement became very popular and contributed to a significant increase in the number of unvaccinated children in some countries. Nowadays, in the cyberspace and mass communication, it seems that both medical and social sciences face new challenges related to the spread of the movement. Hate speech, fake news and disinformation present in cyberspace strengthen and consolidate anti-vaccine attitudes. The phenomenon of Facebook means that every information can be made available to other users a few thousand times – even the untrue and misleading