Twitter Ad Rules Threaten More Greenwashing & Misinformation

It is no secret or surprise that Twitter has been in turmoil since Elon Musk bought the social media platform last year.

Yet it still remains a critical tool for climate education in a time when the media is still broadly ignoring the Climate Crisis or, in many cases, still platforming some of the greatest polluters with climate denial and greenwashing – RTE’s coverage of Ryanair is a perfect example of this.

For anyone open to being educated about the Climate Crisis, Twitter has many active communities led by highly respected academics, who are freely sharing the latest studies, calling out misinformation, and sharing practical actions that we can all take to live more sustainably.

Yet, a recent change in Twitter advertising rules presents a major opportunity for corporations and climate deniers to push misinformation at a time when moderators on the platform are stretched more than ever.

We were told that it breached the ‘caused-based’ rules and therefore we wouldn’t be able to promote the Awards to people in Ireland.

At the time this felt like a troubling suppression of the Climate Action movement – as it limited just how far Climate Crisis education could go, and the ability to call out misinformation, while also restricting attendance at key Climate Action events.

As of 3rd January 2023, the restrictions on ‘cause-based’ advertising have been lifted.

Yet, in the current climate of Twitter’s desperate money-grabbing, rife greenwashing and renewed climate denial, this free-for-all on advertising presents a real threat to climate education.

Alongside Musk’s platforming and reinstatement of right-wing figures, there were more than 509,000 mentions of #ClimateScam or ‘climate scam’ originating from 146,000 users in this four month period.

Rather reassuringly, the report does make clear that uses of #ClimateCrisis or #ClimateEmergency were not only more common than #ClimateScam, but also more retweeted.

Nonetheless, the prominence of climate denial – and those who profit from it – on Twitter should be cause for concern given the severity of the Climate Crisis that we already face, and how little time we have left to stay within the 1.5°C limit.

CAAD are clear in their summary that taking action on repeat offender accounts is a key measure to curb the impact of climate denial and delayism in public life, and that current fact-checking labels for misleading content are not having the necessary impact needed to stop the harm that these accounts cause.

Where our previous campaign from 2022 was pending for several days before a moderator flagged that it contravened ‘cause-based’ rules, this time our advert was not only approved but live on the platform in a matter of seconds.

As such, anyone with any agenda can now promote misinformation and greenwashing in a matter of seconds.

With Twitter’s highly-targeted and low-cost advertising, this should be ringing alarm bells across the Climate Action and education community, and once again raises the need for stringent legislation to protect people from corporations profiting from misinformation.

What To Read Next