Abstract
The recent global uptick of vaccine?preventable diseases has been linked to the rising role played by health influencers who spread vaccine misinformation on algorithmic platforms. While legal scholarship has examined the regulation of such platforms, it exhibits four main gaps: 1) it has mostly focused on political misinformation 2) it has adopted a binary accountability model (states-platforms) that insufficiently examines how other potential non-state duty-bearers (e.g. influencers) may also have obligations under IHRL 3) it has insufficiently examined the impact of misinformation on non-user stakeholders (e.g. children) 4) it has treated the Global North and Global South as separate policy spaces rather than as interlinked territories between which misinformation that exploits pre-existing local vulnerabilities circulates. This project will enhance theoretical and practical understanding of how vaccine misinformation interacts with the obligations of state and non-state actors, including non-traditional ones, under international human rights law. Vaccine misinformation is at the nexus of freedom of expression, the right to health, and children's and parental rights, and can therefore serve as a critical site for rethinking the contours of accountability for online misinformation. The focus on influencers can likewise contribute to identifying the boundaries of accountability by exploring the expansion of the scope of non-state duty-bearers beyond corporate entities.
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