As Internet becomes more and more a source of information for many people, appears the issue about the accuracy and trustworthiness of what is seen and read online. Most Internet users believe that most of the information seen or read on the Internet cannot be trusted.

As the topic of health is one of the most commonly searched for, specialists became aware of the possible effect on users when dealing with non-professional information. In this matter, Dr. Kumanan Wilson and Dr. Jennifer Keelan of the University of Toronto conducted a study on 153 videos from YouTube related to vaccinations. The videos were about the childhood immunization regarding HPV, flu and others.

Researchers discovered that more than half of the videos were presenting the vaccination in a negative or at least in an ambiguous manner. They also found out that the videos that portray immunization with a negative connotation generated more traffic than the more positive ones.

Kumanan and Keelan consider that YouTube and Internet at large become more and more a resource that people consult for health information. Their study shows, as part of the results, that information that is negative and ambiguous and contradicts scientific evidence has more attention from public. As from the public health perspective this is a very concerning issue, health specialists should consider a way to provide reliable information through Internet video portals, too, in order to counteract the prevalence of inaccurate health information.