Twitter announced it would ban ads that contradict scientific consensus on climate change.
Twitter’s sustainability leader said in an Earth Day blog post:
“We recognize that misleading information about climate change can undermine efforts to protect the planet. Over the next few months, we will share more about our work, adding credible, authoritative voice to the climate conversation taking place on Twitter. background.”
Misleading ads will now fall under the social media platform’s inappropriate content policy. The move follows a similar ban on anti-scientific consensus ads on Meta, the parent company of Google, Facebook and Instagram.
Pre-Bunks Provides Disclaimer for Unreliable Claims
Just before the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Twitter begins filing pre-bunk, or a message placed at the top of a user’s feed to preemptively debunk false information. These strategies, along with trusted and authoritative information centers, are now being used to help discuss climate change.
According to the blog post, Twitter’s approach will be informed by authoritative sources, such as the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which issued its 2022 report On climate change mitigation earlier this month.
Social media is battleground in climate change, free speech debates
The climate change debate has become an increasingly politicized issue in the United States, often characterized by political rather than scientific actors. As a result, polarization has intensified, with liberals and conservatives showing sharp differences on the issue.
A sort of Pew Research Center 2020 Research It was found that 85% of American adult liberals believe human activity is causing climate change, compared to just 14% of conservatives. Twitter often acts as echo chamber for every aspect of this question.
Since former President Donald Trump was banned from Twitter in January 2021, the social media site has drawn growing outrage from the right, claiming that conservative voices are being censored on the platform.
Following the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol, Twitter’s enforcement action removed 77,000 accounts promoting the QAnon conspiracy, many of them conservative Trump supporters. However, a 2021 study by the Center for Business and Human Rights found that claims of conservative censorship were unfounded.
Twitter is committed to organizational sustainability
Fighting misinformation about climate change is just the latest in Twitter’s efforts to promote sustainable development.
In 2019, it announced a plan By the end of 2022, its data centers in the US and Canada will be 100% carbon neutral. Through a partnership with Watershed, a technology company focused on energy and water conservation, the company derives renewable energy from wind and solar projects.
Earlier this year, Twitter joined the EU’s climate pact, which includes a commitment to fully transition to renewable energy across the EU, according to Paris Agreement.
source: Twitter
Featured Image: nito/Shutterstock
