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Can Pinterest Cure the Misinformation Plague?

Pinterest is hoping a change to its search capabilities will stamp out viral misinformation about routine vaccinations on the platform.

Last Wednesday, the company announced that searches for terms including “vaccine safety” and “measles” will now only yield information
from public health institutions like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO).

The backstory: Despite concrete scientific evidence that vaccines prevent disease, a growing “anti-vax” movement claims
that vaccines have detrimental effects on children. Pinterest has over 300 million monthly visitors
, many of whom could encounter anti-vax pins while searching for parenting advice or Instant Pot chicken & dumplings recipes.

But with Pinterest’s new search experience, certain queries will only show content from Pinterest's network of public health websites—no ads, no related pins, and no comments. “We’re taking this approach because we believe that showing vaccine misinformation alongside resources from public health experts isn’t responsible,” the company said
.

This isn’t the first time Pinterest has tried to squash anti-vax messaging on the platform.

• Earlier this year, Pinterest tried blocking all searches for vaccine-related info.
• Before that, Pinterest’s community guidelines prohibited anti-vaccine advice and other health misinformation—but those guidelines weren’t strictly enforced.

Pinterest’s new policy addresses the so-called “data void
” for reliable information about vaccines. And without safeguards, search functions like Pinterest's can queue up misleading content that's optimized to spread rapidly.

Viruses are spreading on and offline

Let's look at all the online misinformation trying to convince parents to skip vaccines, on Pinterest and elsewhere:

Anti-vax proponents have used social media to spread health myths, suggesting vaccines can cause autism or that “natural immunity” is better than inoculation. (Such claims have been debunked repeatedly by doctors.) So in the last year, sites including Facebook and YouTube began working to stymie anti-vax misinformation through both algorithmic and ad-sales strategies.

Online falsehoods have real-world consequences. Modern society isn’t anywhere near Black Death 2.0, but the anti-vax movement has coincided with an alarming spike in preventable diseases.

• Measles cases reached a more than 25-year high in the U.S. this year.
• Chickenpox has broken out in schools with certain vaccinations exemptions.
• The WHO currently lists "vaccine hesitancy" as one of the top ten threats to global health this year.

Bottom line: One in five adults trust social media sites like Pinterest and Facebook as a news source, according to Pew Research. Tweaking their search and sharing capabilities could quarantine false information from users moving forward.

TOP 10

1. When the internet really dislikes a podcast, it weaponizes one-star reviews (The Verge).
2. 70 million people are currently displaced around the world. This interactive feature shows where they're coming from and why relief options are dwindling (Council on Foreign Relations).
3. A writer looks back at her 15 years on Facebook—through 5,445 pages of her user data (Slate).
4. Can eliminating so-called gifted and talented programs finally desegregate NYC public schools? (NYT).
5. A Christian missionary pledges to evangelize the Sentinelese, an uncontacted tribe in the Indian Ocean, or die trying. But where he aims to bring the gospel, he finds tragedy (GQ).
6. Chevy Chase, MD, is divided...over a $134,000 dog park (WaPo).
7. A former NYPD detective records unfiltered accounts of arrests, house calls, and murder cases from his first year on duty (The Sun).
8. K e t o-minded food companies think they can save cold cereal from breakfast extinction (The Goods).
9. Two devoted sisters are driven apart when one marries an ISIS sniper, then claims he kidnapped her (Elle).
10. At least one person at your LDW barbecue will say, “no laws when you’re drinking Claws.” Here’s how White Claw became the spokesdrink for Hot Seltzer Summer (The Atlantic).

MAIL BAG

The Real World Isn't for Everyone

Reader Q: I have a degree in a field I thought I loved, but now that I’ve graduated, I don’t know what to do next. Help? Is this a normal thing or am I a little lost?

Halie’s A: It’s perfectly normal to not know exactly where you’re headed post-grad. Here are a few tips to help you get your footing. (But take what I say with a Himalayan salt lamp. I’m a writer, not a career counselor.)

Think about why you studied what you studied. Are you iffy on staying in your degree field because you truly aren’t interested in it anymore, or because there’s an intimidating barrier to entry? If the answer’s B, don’t get discouraged by hard work.

Reach out to people whose careers you admire. Conversations with Real Working Adults in any field can give you a better sense of your expectations and goals.

Remember: What you do first isn’t what you do forever. Gallup has called millennials the job-hopping generation
for a reason. View your first role as a chance to adjust to life on your own. You don’t have to love every minute for it to be valuable.

We’re taking any and all reader questions for our next Light Roast right here

Breakroom Answers