Twitter uses Earth Day to announce ban on climate denial ads | Twitter - New Style Motorsport

Twitter chose Earth Day to announce that it will ban ads that deny the scientific consensus on the climate crisis.

“We believe that climate denialism should not be monetized on Twitter, and that misleading ads should not detract from important conversations about the climate crisis,” the company said. declared on Friday.

“We recognize that misleading information about climate change can undermine efforts to protect the planet.”

The company did not specify whether the change would affect what users post on its site, but it did say it will provide additional information in the coming months about its work to “add trusted and authoritative context to climate conversations” taking place. out on your platform. .

He said his approach would be informed by sources such as the UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Reports.

Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook have been host to a rising tide of climate change denial in recent years.

Online conversations about the climate crisis on Twitter are increasingly being reshaped by automated bots, researchers say: A Brown University study two years ago found that bots were responsible for a quarter of all statements about the climate crisis. climate crisis. Certain topics saw higher shares, 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 UN climate conference to counter climate misinformation. It described them as “credible and authoritative information hubs” on the climate crisis and are available in the Explore, Search and Trends tab, the company saying.

Twitter’s Friday announcement follows in the footsteps of other major tech companies, including Google and Meta, in addressing 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 presents accurate climate change information to users. Last fall, the company announced a $1 million investment in its new Climate Misinformation grant program. Meta will use the 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,” it said.

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