U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) praised YouTube’s announcement that it had taken steps to remove anti-vaccine content from its platform. The congressman said the decision is “important” step in fighting misinformation online.

“For the past several years, I have pushed YouTube and Google, as well as others, to take decisive action to ban the deadly spread of anti-vaccine campaigns on their platforms, as well as to warn users when they’ve interacted with false, misleading and dangerous anti-vaccine content,” Schiff said. “I am grateful YouTube has announced these significant policy changes, which will help the United States reach its goals of immunizing the country against the coronavirus.”

He said he will be monitoring how the policies are enforced long-term through YouTube’s algorithms and actions and how the company will make it more difficult to use the platform to spread conspiratorial falsehoods and deadly myths.

“Facebook and Amazon should take similar steps to stop the spread of anti-vaccine misinformation,” Schiff added. “Now more than ever, it is imperative that platforms take tangible action to protect the health and safety of all Americans, including by potentially refusing to give voice to those who spread anti-science and anti-vaccine misinformation – in many cases for profit – without consequence.”

Earlier in September, Schiff urged Andy Jassy, chief executive officer of Amazon, and Mark Zuckerberg, founder and chief executive officer of Facebook, to transparently and thoroughly detail efforts they’ve undertaken to stop content that undermines science and promotes vaccine misinformation to the public.

In 2019, Schiff sent a letter to Sundar Pichai, chief executive officer of Google, and Zuckerberg to express concern that the companies’ platforms — including YouTube, Facebook and Instagram — were surfacing and recommending information that discourages parents from vaccinating their children, contributing to declining vaccination rates that could reverse progress made in tackling vaccine-preventable diseases.