Photo-sharing provider Pinterest blocked all searches related to vaccinations last month and Youtube has also removed adverts promoting anti-vaccination rhetoric. 

Brisbane software developer David Brand has now started a petition calling on Facebook to get rid of groups acting 'as an echo chamber reinforcing vaccine myths'.

Mr Brand said he wanted to take on 'anti-vax propaganda'.

'The biggest mechanism for this propaganda to spread is Facebook,' the 31-year-old told News Corp.

He said the anti-vaccine movement had grown in parallel with the social media platform's rise in popularity since 2008.

'If Facebook was to remove these pages or clamp down on them, it would make a massive difference,' he said.

He said his petition, which has already gained more than 33,000 signatures, has seen particular success in recent months following a string of measles outbreaks across Australia.

Facebook were sent a letter last month in the US by Republican congressman Adam Schiff asking them to to reveal what steps they were taking to provide medically accurate information