An 18-year-old from Ohio who famously inoculated himself against his mother’s wishes in December says he attributes his mother’s anti-vaccine ideology to a single source: Facebook.
Ethan Lindenberger, a high school senior, testified Tuesday before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and underscored the importance of “credible” information. In contrast, he said, the false and deep-rooted beliefs his mother held — that vaccines were dangerous — were perpetuated by social media. Specifically, he said, she turned to anti-vaccine groups on social media for evidence that supported her point of view.
In an interview with The Washington Post on Tuesday, Lindenberger said Facebook, or websites that were linked on Facebook, is really the only source his mother ever relied on for her anti-vaccine information.
Most importantly, Lindenberger said, was the impact Facebook’s anti-vax communities had on his family.
“I feel like if my mom didn’t interact with that information, and she wasn’t swayed by those arguments and stories, it could’ve potentially changed everything,” he said. “My entire family could’ve been vaccinated.”
Lindenberger said that he believed his older siblings, who predate Facebook, had been vaccinated. He said his younger siblings have not.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention explicitly state that there is no linkage between vaccines and autism, and also warns of incorrect information that is easily spread and made available online.
“I didn’t agree with anything he said,” Jill Wheeler, Lindenberger’s mother, told the Associated Press. “They’ve made him the poster child for the pharmaceutical industry.” Wheeler was not available for comment before this story was published.
The Washington Post has previously reported on the ways Facebook has served as a place of refuge for parents who reject facts on immunizations. Lawmakers and medical professionals have pressured the platform over the spread of misinformation related to vaccines, especially targeted advertisements and anti-vaccination materials aimed toward women in regions with high numbers of measles reports.
“We’ve taken steps to reduce the distribution of health-related misinformation on Facebook, but we know we have more to do,” Facebook said in a statement to The Post last month. The platform said it was considering reducing the appearance of anti-vaccination material in search results and “Groups you should join.”