Twitter chose Earth Day to announce that it would ban ads that deny scientific consensus on the climate crisis.
“We believe that climate denialism should not be monetized on Twitter, and that misrepresentation of ads should not detract from critical conversations about the climate crisis,” the company said. declared on Friday.
“We believe that misleading information about climate change could undermine efforts to protect the planet.”
The company did not specify whether the change would affect what users post on its site, but said it would provide additional information on its work in the coming months to “add credible, authoritative context to climate conversations” which is happening on its platform.
It said its approach would be informed by sources such as the UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Report.
Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook have been the venue for a growing wave of climate change denials in recent years.
According to researchers, online conversations about the climate crisis on Twitter are increasingly being reshaped by automated bots: A Brown University study two years ago found that for a quarter of all statements regarding the climate crisis The bots were responsible. Some topics saw higher proportions, such as 38% of tweets about “fake science” and 28% of all tweets about ExxonMobil, the oil company with a history of climate denial.
Last year, Twitter launched a new strategy known as “pre-bunks” during the United Nations climate conference to combat climate misinformation. It described them as a “centre of credible, authoritative information” regarding the climate crisis and is available on the Explore tab, Search and Trends, the company. said,
Friday’s announcement from Twitter follows in the footsteps of other major tech companies, including Google and Meta, to bring climate change denial on their platforms.
In October, Google banned ads that “contradict the well-established scientific consensus about the existence and causes of climate change.”
META also launched a Climate Science Center that provides accurate information on climate change for users. Last fall, the company announced a $1m investment in its new climate misinformation grant program. META will use this money to “invest in proposals that build alliances between fact-checkers, climate experts and other organizations to support projects that focus on combating climate misinformation.” are”, it said.
