Facebook Algorithm Drives Sceptics Towards Climate Denial - Study

In their latest study, Global Witness simulated the experience of a climate-sceptic user on the social media platform. Within a few clicks, the algorithm recommended content that denied the existence of man-made global warming and attacked measures aimed at mitigating the climate crisis. The experiment indicates that the Facebook algorithm directs climate-sceptic users to more disinformation affirming their beliefs and finding community amongst others who are disdainful of climate science.

In April 2021, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg admitted during a U.S. congressional testimony that climate disinformation is 'a big issue' on the platform. Facebook then promised to stamp out climate disinformation. In an effort to combat this, Facebook said it would expand its climate science centre to provide more reliable information and launch a video series to highlight young climate advocates on Facebook and Instagram. They also promised to expand their flagging of posts regarding climate with information labels linking to their climate science centre and announced a one-million-dollar grant programme to support organisations working to combat climate misinformation - a sum akin to about thirty minutes of company profits, according to Global Witness.

But critics say the new push has fallen short and allows vast amounts of climate misinformation to slip through the cracks.