WAME letter to Facebook
December 9, 2019
Mr. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO
Facebook, Inc.
1 Hacker Way
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Dear Mr. Zuckerberg:
The World Association of Medical Editors is an organization of the editors-in-chief of more than 1000 medical journals and experts in medical scholarly publishing in 92 countries. Part of our mission is to promote the best of scientific medicine to improve the health of the public around the world.
With that mission in mind, we are writing in the hope that you will stop accepting advertising from anti-vaxxer organizations. Between 2000 and 2017, measles vaccination prevented an estimated 21.1 million deaths worldwide, making this vaccination one of the most effective public health programs.[1] Unvaccinated young children are at highest risk of measles and its complications, including death. Unvaccinated pregnant women are also at risk.
The science supporting the efficacy of vaccines in protecting public health is clear and well established in the international medical community.[1] However, disinformation from anti-vaxxer organizations has helped reduce vaccination rates below that necessary to protect public health from measles.
According to the World Health Organization’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, progress in eradicating measles is greatly under threat; the disease has resurged in several countries—including the US—that had eliminated or were close to eliminating the disease.[1]
In October 2019, in a hearing before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, you were quoted as saying, “...we also hear consistently from our community that people want us to stop the spread of misinformation. So we try to focus on misinformation that has the potential to lead to physical or imminent harm, and that can include misleading health advice.”
We are calling on you to make good on this pledge.
A current article in the journal Vaccine reported that two organizations, the World Mercury Project and Stop Mandatory Vaccinations, currently buys 54% of ads seeking to discourage Facebook users from getting their children vaccinated.[2] We are mindful of individual differences in health decisions and of the First Amendment right to free speech. But we also believe that the needs of the individual must be balanced with the needs of the group. These ads present a clear and present danger to public health.
Continuing to accept advertising from anti-vaxxer organization means that Facebook will remain part of the problem; no longer accepting these ads means it will become part of the solution. Surely, no amount of ad revenues is worth the lives of children.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
The Officers and Board of Directors,
World Association of Medical Editors
1. World Health Organization Health topics/Measles. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/measles. May, 2019. Accessed December 4, 2019.
2. Jamison AM, Broniatowski DA, Dredze M, Wood-Doughty Z, Khan D, Quinn SC. Vaccine-related advertising in the Facebook Ad Archive. Vaccine. 2019 Nov 12. pii: S0264-410X(19)31446-X. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2019.10.066. [Epub ahead of print]