Asymmetric participation of defenders and critics of vaccines to debates on French-speaking Twitter

TL;DR

This study analyzes vaccine-related debates on French-speaking Twitter, revealing asymmetries in focus, tactics, and influence between pro- and anti-vaccine accounts, with implications for public health communication.

Contribution

It uncovers the asymmetric behaviors and strategies of vaccine advocates and critics on social media, highlighting the impact on vaccine discourse dynamics.

Findings

Pro-vaccine accounts focus on new vaccines and outbreaks.

Vaccine critics target specific controversial vaccines and adjuvants.

Critical accounts are more coordinated and resourceful.

Abstract

For more than a decade, doubt about vaccines has become an increasingly important global issue. Polarization of opinions on this matter, especially through social media, has been repeatedly observed, but details about the balance of forces are left unclear. In this paper, we analyse the flow of information on vaccines on the French-speaking realm of Twitter between 2016 and 2017. Two major asymmetries appear. Rather than opposing themselves on each vaccine-related controversy, pro and anti-vaccine accounts focus on different vaccines and vaccine-related topics. Pro-vaccine accounts focus on hopes for new groundbreaking vaccines and on ongoing outbreaks of vaccine-preventable illnesses. Vaccine critics concentrate their posts on a limited number of controversial vaccines and adjuvants. Furthermore, vaccine-critical accounts display greater craft and energy, using a wider variety of sources, and a more coordinated set of hashtags. This double asymmetry can have serious consequences. Despite the presence of a large number of pro-vaccine accounts, some arguments raised by efficiently organized and very active vaccine-critical activists are left unanswered.