Climate Misinformation Rises on Social Media

We are currently inundated with climate news and misinformation. According to multiple independent investigations, Facebook and X (formerly known as twitter) are facilitating the rise of climate misinformation. Finding trustworthy and reliable sources is of the utmost importance for meaningful climate action and the spread of disinformation online negatively influences the collective decisions made to tackle climate change.

Boston University scientists analyzed over 20,000 tweets that qualified as climate misinformation and discovered over 60 accounts funded by oil giant ExxonMobil that actively push false claims about climate change. The investigation was undertaken by the Boston University Climate Disinformation Initiative and found that statements like “CO2 Not Rising” were tweeted 180,000 times between 2007 and 2022. The graphic below shows the growth of climate misinformation tweets over time.

In addition, a Global Witness investigation found that in contrast to Facebook’s promises to fight climate misinformation, their algorithm still recommends climate denial pages that promote a variety of false claims.

These claims include:

– The climate crisis is a hoax

– Rising temperatures are part of natural cycles

– Environmentalists are alarmists

– Climate scientists are biased

– Warming models are inaccurate

– Mitigation solutions won’t work or are otherwise bad for society

The Carbon Foundation exists to shine a light on misinformation and to educate businesses and consumers. By having a solid agreement on what causes climate change and the need to reduce and capture greenhouse gas emissions consumers can find businesses that they can trust that are doing their part to fight human caused global warming. 

We are proud to support the businesses we endorse and we are proud to state that these businesses have taken verifiable action to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, by reducing their carbon output and not by purchasing carbon offsets. When consumers see the CFUS logo they can trust that the products and services that carry it are not greenwashing, and that the businesses are doing their part. Trust, accountability, and action are needed now more than ever.