Falling into the Echo Chamber: the Italian Vaccination Debate on Twitter

Understand

The reappearance of measles in the US and Europe, a disease considered eliminated in early 2000s, has been accompanied by a growing debate on the merits of vaccination on social media.

• In this study we examine the extent to which the vaccination debate on Twitter is conductive to potential outreach to the vaccination hesitant.
• We focus on Italy, one of the countries most affected by the latest measles outbreaks.
• We discover that the vaccination skeptics, as well as the advocates, reside in their own distinct "echo chambers".