X (Twitter) ranks worst in preventing climate change misinformation
Of five major platforms, Twitter was found to be most negligent in the spread of climate misinformation.
X, formerly called Twitter, ranks last amongst five social media companies for not having policies to reduce inaccurate information. The Climate of Misinformation report labelled Meta, Pinterest, YouTube, TikTok and Twitter as complicit in the spread of climate misinformation.
The Climate Action Against Disinformation, the body responsible for the report that includes Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, found X even more complicit than the other four platforms. It scored 1 out of 21 due to its lack of relevant policy measures, including a transparent reporting process for flagging harmful or misleading content for higher review. The highest score, 12, went to Pinterest.
The NGO places much of X’s complacency regarding the spread of climate misinformation on its new owner, claiming that ‘Musk’s acquisition of the company has created uncertainty about which policies are still standing and which are not’.
Why does it matter?
Climate Change continues to be one of the most significant issues affecting the developed and developing world. With only a meagre 100 billion, most of which unaccounted for, pledged to the developing world to deal with its massive impacts, social media platforms are well situated to both contribute financially and influence behavioural change towards net zero.
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