On Friday, Twittter announced that it is prohibiting misleading advertisements that "contradict the scientific consensus on climate change." Twitter explained that, "We believe that climate denialism shouldn’t be monetized on Twitter, and that misrepresentative ads shouldn’t detract from important conversations about the climate crisis."
Twitter is not the first platform to restrict advertising that spreads misleading theories about climate change. For example, Google prohibits advertising that "contradicts well-established scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change."
Recently, Pinterest also announced a new advertising policy that prohibits false and misleading claims about climate change. The policy prohibits content such as:
- Content that denies the existence or impacts of climate change, the human influence on climate change, or that climate change is backed by scientific consensus;
- False or misleading content about climate change solutions that contradict well-established scientific consensus;
- Content that misrepresents scientific data, including by omission or cherry-picking, in order to erode trust in climate science and experts; and
- Harmful false or misleading content about public safety emergencies including natural disasters and extreme weather events.
Pinterest also said that it is updating its advertising policies "to explicitly prohibit any ads containing conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation related to climate change."