Twitter, on this year’s Earth Day, announced a ban on “misleading” advertisements “that contradict the scientific consensus on climate change.”
Announcing the ban on Friday, the social media platform said that misleading advertising that contradicts scientific consensus on the crisis won’t be permitted on the platform under its policy on inappropriate content.
Leaders from the company’s sustainability team wrote in a blog post, “We believe that climate denialism shouldn’t be monetized on Twitter, and that misrepresentative ad shouldn’t detract from important conversations about the climate crisis,”. “We recognize that misleading information about climate change can undermine efforts to protect the planet.”
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They announced that the decisions about what’s legit content regarding climate change will be guided by authoritative sources, including the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
The IPCC had published a couple of landmark reports on the crisis over the past few months that break down what needs to be done to adapt to the changes that are already unfolding as well as how to avert even more severe consequences in the future, like intensifying weather disasters and ferocious wildfire seasons.
The outlet also said that it will assess whether climate change ads break the rules based on reports from authoritative sources, such as the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The company added that it will share more details about its work to add reliable, authoritative context to the climate conversations happening on Twitter in the coming months.
According to reports, the latest move builds on some other measures Twitter is taking to address climate change. By the end of 2022, the platform aims to only be using carbon-neutral power sourcing at its data centres.
Recall that It also joined the EU climate pact earlier this year, committing to switch to renewable electricity at its leased operations in the bloc and to increase its investments in carbon-removal tech.
It will also be recalled that Google made a commitment in October 2021 to stop allowing ads that feature climate denial or that monetize climate misinformation. However, a report published soon after the new policy went into effect found that Google was still placing ads on climate-denying content.
Facebook has come under fire after it failed to label climate misinformation despite its policy on flagging such content.
Story was adapted from the Verge.
