Microblogging platform Twitter on Friday announced that it will ban advertisements that “contradict the scientific consensus” on climate change.
“We believe that climate denialism shouldn’t be monetised on Twitter, and that misrepresentative ads shouldn’t detract from important conversations about the climate crisis,” the social media platform said. Misleading information about climate change can “undermine efforts to protect the planet”, it added.
Twitter said that such advertisements would be banned in line with its policy on inappropriate content. The company, however, did not state whether the ban is a new policy addition.
Twitter also said that its decision was based on “authoritative sources”, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
On April 4, a report by the organisation said that the average annual global greenhouse gas emissions were at their highest levels ever from 2010 to 2019. However, it added that the rate of growth of such emissions has slowed down.
Meanwhile, Twitter on Friday said that it will share more information in the coming months on the manner in which it will seek to provide “reliable, authoritative context” to conversations on climate change.
The announcement by the social media platform came hours before European Union officials agreed on a law that would require big technology companies to provide safeguards against hate speech, disinformation and other such harmful online content, according to the Associated Press.
On October 7, Google also announced that it would prohibit advertisements that contradict “well-established scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change”.
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