Twitter to prohibit misleading ads about climate change on platform

Singapore – Social media platform Twitter has announced that it will be prohibiting misleading advertising regarding climate change on their platform. The announcement was made to a recent blog by the company in celebration of this year’s Earth Day.

The blog, written by Director of Sustainability Seán Boyle and Global Sustainability Manager Casey Junod, notes that said approach is informed by authoritative sources, like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Reports. 

“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,” they said.

They also added, “We recognize that misleading information about climate change can undermine efforts to protect the planet. In the coming months, we’ll have more to share on our work to add reliable, authoritative context to the climate conversations happening on Twitter.”

Twitter also pledged to continue its dedicated topic rollout on the platform to help people find personalised conversations about climate change, which included a stint for #COP26 last year, where Twitter rolled out pre-bunks — hubs of credible, authoritative information across a range of key themes, like the science backing climate change, made available in the ‘Explore’ tab, ‘Search’, and ‘Trends’.

The platform also noted that the climate conversation happening on Twitter is ever-expanding and uniquely global. Since 2021, conversation about sustainability has grown by more than 150%, and they have seen a 60% increase in terms like ‘restoring’ and ‘rebalancing’. In addition, discussion around waste reduction has increased by over 100%, and decarbonization by more than 50%.

“We all have a part we can play in tackling this urgent, global crisis. From volunteering with an environmental organisation in your community, to joining a Twitter Space with environmental experts, to learning more about protecting our planet, there are lots of ways to get involved,” the company concluded.