Washington: A teenager who made headlines after defying his anti-vaxx mother testified in front of Congress on Tuesday, saying his mother's misinformation stemmed from social media.

The Ohio teen who drew attention with his rebellion against his anti-vaccine mother, testified on Capitol Hill about the dangers of misinformation on the internet.

Ethan Lindenberger, a teenager from of Norwalk, Ohio, travelled to Washington, DC to speak at a health, education, labor and pension committee hearing on Tuesday.

He said as he approached high school and questioned why he wasn't vaccinated, his mother often met him with misinformation she found online and in social media groups -- never trusting health officials. He recalled showing his mother articles from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and her replying with scepticism.

"That's what they want you to think," she would tell him, Lindenberger said on Tuesday.

In a question and answer portion of the hearing, Lindenberger named Facebook as one of the sites his mother used often to wrongly suggest vaccines could cause harm. He also said she has posted videos with fake news on the site.

He said it's with "respect and love" he disagrees with his mother. Learning to research and debate in high school, Lindenberger, 18, said he learned "there always seems to be two sides to a discussion ... This is not true for the vaccine debate."

This isn't the first time Facebook has been accused of being a platform for fake health news. Responding to backlash last month, Facebook said it has "taken steps" to reduce misinformation around anti-vaxx posts.

The committee hearing comes as the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention monitors six measles outbreaks across the nation, including in Clark County, Washington state where 70 confirmed cases have been reported.

Lindenberger reached out to Reddit users a few months ago to ask whether he could be vaccinated as an adult.

Ethan Lindenberger, the teen who had himself vaccinated. CSpan

After his thread went viral, he told Good Morning America he never received vaccines for hepatitis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella or chickenpox. In December of last year, he caught up on his missed immunizations.

People choosing not to vaccinate have become a global health threat in 2019, the World Health Organization reported. The CDC recognised that the number of children who aren't being vaccinated by 24 months old has been gradually increasing.

This week, another study showed the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) does not increase the risk of autism and does not trigger autism in children who are at risk. This research adds to already available studies saying the same.

TNS