A human rights group has said in its report that its findings pointed towards the possibility that popular social media platform Facebook nudged users towards climate change denying content than that obtained from reliable sources. The group, named Global Witness, said that Facebook users who show an interest in climate skepticism are often nudged by the platform towards “increasingly extreme” climate misinformation by FB’s algorithms.
“We simulated the user experience of an individual liking pages such as “Net Zero Watch”, an organisation countering climate policies and linked to the UK Conservative MP Steve Baker. We found that immediately after liking this page, the user was recommended “Climate Depot”, a US based outlet run by Marc Morano and part of CFACT, a group that calls human-induced climate change “a myth”” said the group in its press release.
“Facebook has repeatedly said it wants to combat climate disinformation on its platform, but our investigation shows how worryingly easy it is for its users to be led down a dangerous path that flies in the face of both science and reality. Facebook is not just a neutral online space where climate disinformation exists; it is quite literally putting such views in front of users eyes,” said Mai Rosner, Digital Threats to Democracy Campaigner at Global Witness. Rosner was quoted in the press release.
After its findings, Global Witness has called on governments to make law to rein in Big Tech. The Big Tech companies, said Global Witness, had the power to “shape our realities in dangerous and divisive ways that threaten to derail progress toward tackling the greatest challenge our planet collectively faces”.
