X Ranks Lowest in Fighting Climate Misinformation, Study Says

A climate misinformation study ranked X, formerly Twitter, as the lowest among other social media that commit to mitigating the spread of climate misinformation on its platform.

X Lacks Policies for Addressing Climate Misinformation

Climate change misinformation continues to thrive on social media. Big tech companies are evidently struggling on moderating content about climate change denial. For instance, X is reported to be "lacking clear policies that addresses climate misinformation." The company has also no substantive public transparency mechanism.

On the other hand, YouTube, Meta, and TikTok have committed to address the climate misinformation, however, independent researchers found that implementation is still lacking for these companies. Meanwhile, Pinterest was ranked the highest and is proven to mitigate the spread of such misinformation.

Out of the 21 points, Pinterest got 12 points, TikTok with nine points, Meta (for Facebook and Instagram) got eight points, YouTube with six points, and X with one point. However, most of these platforms were proven to have little to no policies that tackles greenwashing.

X's Climate Misinformation Bans

In 2019, X assured that the platform will no longer accept political ads, including those from climate denial groups. Meanwhile, the company also announced last year that they will ban any ads that denies the scientific consensus on climate change.

"In the case of X/Twitter, Elon Musk's acquisition of the company has created uncertainty about which policies are still standing and which are not," researchers wrote.

The Climate Action Against Disinformation Coalition is now calling the big tech companies to produce a transparent company plan that focuses on stopping the spread of climate disinformation, greenwashing, hate speech, and any content that can jeopardize public health and security.