Facebook sustainability chief admits climate denialism is viral on their platform

Facebook announced its global operations “will achieve net zero carbon emissions and be 100% supported by renewable energy”.

Facebook and Google have insisted they are committed to tackling climate change despite climate denial groups and disinformation being rampant on their platforms.

The tech giants both launched new climate change strategies this week, with Facebook announcing its global operations “will achieve net zero carbon emissions and be 100% supported by renewable energy”.

Director of Sustainability at Facebook, Edward Palmieri, told reporters that the firm “recognises the urgency of climate change”, and that it fully supports the so-called European Green New Deal, which aims to make European policy more sustainable and climate-friendly by 2030.

When asked by the Irish Examiner how Facebook can reconcile fighting climate change denial with hosting thousands of unscientific pages and groups that claim climate change is a hoax, Mr Palmieri acknowledged it was problematic.

“Over the last year, we have been looking very closely at climate misinformation. 

"We know that climate denialism exists on the platform and that it is viral. 

"We have been looking over the last year to expand our capacity to address these issues and build out a network to fact check information, that it is flagged as quickly as possible."

Similarly, Google has announced that it is eliminating its “entire carbon legacy” with immediate effect.

“Google said it is the first major company to make a commitment to operate on 24/7 carbon-free energy in all our data centers and campuses worldwide. This is far more challenging than the traditional approach of matching energy usage with renewable energy, but we’re working to get this done by 2030,” the firm said.

However, YouTube, which is owned by Google, has been described as one of the worst offenders for spreading lies, disinformation and anti-science when it comes to climate change.

Google has insisted that its “position on climate change is clear”, and that recommendations on sites such as YouTube are not designed to filter or demote videos or channels based on specific perspectives.