TY  - JOUR
AU  - Wawrzuta, Dominik
AU  - Jaworski, Mariusz
AU  - Gotlib, Joanna
AU  - Panczyk, Mariusz
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/6/4
TI  - Characteristics of Antivaccine Messages on Social Media: Systematic Review
JO  - J Med Internet Res
SP  - e24564
VL  - 23
IS  - 6
KW  - vaccination
KW  - social media
KW  - antivaccination movement
KW  - vaccination refusal
KW  - health communication
KW  - public health
KW  - vaccines
AB  - Background: Supporters of the antivaccination movement can easily spread information that is not scientifically proven on social media. Therefore, learning more about their posts and activities is instrumental in effectively reacting and responding to the false information they publish, which is aimed at discouraging people from taking vaccines. Objective: This study aims to gather, assess, and synthesize evidence related to the current state of knowledge about antivaccine social media users’ web-based activities. Methods: We systematically reviewed English-language papers from 3 databases (Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed). A data extraction form was established, which included authors, year of publication, specific objectives, study design, comparison, and outcomes of significance. We performed an aggregative narrative synthesis of the included studies. Results: The search strategy retrieved 731 records in total. After screening for duplicates and eligibility, 18 articles were included in the qualitative synthesis. Although most of the authors analyzed text messages, some of them studied images or videos. In addition, although most of the studies examined vaccines in general, 5 focused specifically on human papillomavirus vaccines, 2 on measles vaccines, and 1 on influenza vaccines. The synthesized studies dealt with the popularity of provaccination and antivaccination content, the style and manner in which messages about vaccines were formulated for the users, a range of topics concerning vaccines (harmful action, limited freedom of choice, and conspiracy theories), and the role and activity of bots in the dissemination of these messages in social media. Conclusions: Proponents of the antivaccine movement use a limited number of arguments in their messages; therefore, it is possible to prepare publications clarifying doubts and debunking the most common lies. Public health authorities should continuously monitor social media to quickly find new antivaccine arguments and then create information campaigns for both health professionals and other users. 
SN  - 1438-8871
UR  - https://www.jmir.org/2021/6/e24564
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/24564
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34085943
DO  - 10.2196/24564
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/24564
ER  -