Twitter banned what the social media platform refers to as “Ads that are “misleading” and “contradict the scientific consensus on climate change.”
According to a Twitter blog post about the ban, “We believe that climate denial should not be monetized on Twitter, and those misleading advertisements should not detract from important discussions about the climate crisis.”
The company will use the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) as a guide to determine legitimate content on climate change from “authoritative sources.”
The IPCC reports define what needs to be done to adapt to climate change and how to avoid future consequences.
According to the platform, conversations about climate change, particularly “sustainability,” have increased by more than 150 percent in the last year. Discussions about “decarbonization,” which aims to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions using fossil fuels, have increased by 50% on the social media platform, while discussions about waste reduction have increased by more than 100%.
Many companies have made similar commitments, such as Google, which has stopped allowing climate denial ads and monetizing climate misinformation.
However, a later report revealed that Google was breaking its promises by placing ads with climate-denying content. Facebook was also chastised for failing to remove climate misinformation content despite its policy of flagging such content.
To read our blog on “Edit feature on Twitter may save digital traces of previous messages” click here.
