Climate change misinformation — including that which is funded by the fossil fuel industry — continues to thrive on social media. While Google, YouTube, Meta, and TikTok are all still lagging in their moderation of climate denial content, X (formerly Twitter) appears to have no clear policies on what to do with such content and is not transparent with what (if any) actions it is taking, according to an analysis published today by a coalition of environmental groups and researchers known as Climate Action Against Disinformation.
Out of a possible 21 points, researchers scored platforms on how effectively they moderate factually incorrect information about the climate — using a combination of the company’s community guidelines, terms of service policies, press releases, news articles, and independent research. Pinterest ranked the highest at 12 points, followed by TikTok (nine points), the Meta-owned platforms Facebook and Instagram (eight points), and YouTube (six points). X scored dead last in the ranking, earning a single point.
X announced last year on Earth Day that it would ban ads that deny the scientific consensus on climate change. This wasn’t the first time that X promised to halt climate disinformation ads. The platform made a promise in 2019 to no longer accept political ads — including those on global warming by climate denial groups — although this did nothing to halt “greenwashing” ad campaigns by ExxonMobil or the rest of the fossil fuel industry.
Following Elon Musk’s acquisition of X in fall 2022, the platform has regressed in its enforcement or reversed certain moderation policies. “In the case of X/Twitter, Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company has created uncertainty about which policies are still standing and which are not,” wrote the researchers.
Back in January, X announced it would relax its ban on political “cause-based” ads. While Twitter’s ban on inappropriate content for advertising covers “misrepresentative content,” it does not at present explicitly ban ads that promote climate denial. While X’s prompt for reporting tweets includes options for misleading information on covid-19 or elections — there’s no category for climate change denial. X users have noted instances that Community Notes by climate deniers have been accepted and are included on posts about the environment.
Although other platforms scored higher in the report, the report noted that most were lacking some of the basics. For example, neither YouTube, Meta, or TikTok have what researchers claim is “a clear and comprehensive definition of climate change.” But the real kicker is that not a single platform appears to update users on what happens after climate misinformation is reported or publish regular reports on how changes to the algorithm impact climate change information.
