Friends of the Earth Statement on Twitter’s new climate disinformation policy
WASHINGTON – On Earth Day, Twitter announced a new policy to reduce climate disinformation on its platform.
Michael Khoo, climate disinformation coalition co-chair at Friends of the Earth, issued the following statement:
We applaud Twitter’s important move to demonetize climate disinformation. Climate disinformation is a big business for the dark network of fossil fuel lobbyists and we must attack its root causes. Companies like Meta must now take stronger action and stop being the last bastions of climate denial.
The danger of disinformation is that it creates false division where there is actual unity. The overwhelming majority of people want strong action on climate change, but the disinformation that floods our online conversations prevents policies from moving forward. Climate disinformation is not some naturally occurring event – it is the product of a professional network of climate deniers and their dark ecosystem of advertisements.
This action by Twitter, building on earlier moves by Google and a strong new policy by Pinterest, is a welcome step forward in the fight against disinformation. As our new scorecard shows, all social media companies need to develop stronger policies on climate disinformation, including community standards, enforcement and transparent reporting. We must prevent greenwashing and the use of advertising from undermining the scientific consensus about the solutions to climate change.
Solving climate change may be complex, but solving climate disinformation starts with simple steps like demonetization.
Communications contact: Brittany Miller, Friends of the Earth, [email protected], (202) 222-0746