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How climate change denial on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok is not going away, with lies, hoaxes and conspiracy theories still rampant

  • YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok have all made pledges to crack down on the spread of misinformation, but it’s still being promoted on all their platforms
  • Social media posts and videos supporting climate change scepticism are prevalent, as well as missing warning labels and links to credible information

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Members of the Extinction Rebellion environmental activist group protest outside Google’s UK headquarters in London demanding it stops climate deniers profiting on its platforms. Climate change falsehoods, hoaxes and conspiracy theories are still prevalent on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, experts say. Photo: Getty Images
USA TODAY

The climate is changing, but misinformation about it on the major social media platforms is not.

Climate change falsehoods, hoaxes and conspiracy theories are still prevalent on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube despite pledges to crack down, a new report says.
Social media posts and videos denying climate change, disputing its causes or underplaying its effects not only can still be found on these platforms, but they are often also missing warning labels or links to credible information, according to Advance Democracy, a research organisation that studies misinformation.
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Climate scientists say they’re frustrated by the lack of progress in stemming the tide of climate change misinformation. For years, they’ve urged social media companies to identify, flag and take down the misinformation and the accounts that spread it.
Social media posts and videos denying climate change, disputing its causes, or underplaying its effects can still be found on platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. Photo: Getty Images
Social media posts and videos denying climate change, disputing its causes, or underplaying its effects can still be found on platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. Photo: Getty Images
Last year, Twitter added a new climate topic to direct users to credible information on climate change. Facebook expanded information labels on posts about climate change to direct users to its “Climate Science Information Centre” and YouTube stopped running ads denying climate change.
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