New research shows climate misinformation has been flourishing on Twitter since Elon Musk purchased the platform last year. Scientists and environmental advocates say such content shows tech companies are failing to enforce their own policies.
Tweets containing “climate scam” or other terms linked to climate change denial rose 300% in 2022, according to a report released last week by the nonprofit Advance Democracy. While Twitter had labeled some of the content as misinformation, many of the popular posts were not labeled.could be part of the problem, according to a report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, another organization that tracks online misinformation.
When researchers at the Center for Countering Digital Hate analyzed accounts verified after Musk took over, they found they spread four times the amount of climate change misinformation compared with users verified before Musk’s purchase. Verification systems are typically created to assure users that the accounts they follow are legitimate. Twitter’s new system, however, makes no distinction between authoritative sources on climate change and anyone with $8 and an opinion, according to Imran Khan, the center’s chief executive.
“We found,” Khan said, “it has in fact put rocket boosters on the spread of lies and disinformation.”
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