Google is continuing to monetize hundreds of videos promoting climate disinformation on YouTube, according to a new report by the Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) coalition.
The report highlights 100 videos on which Google ran ads, which reject mainstream climate science, violating its own policy on disinformation. The coalition is calling for a broader definition of disinformation to include deceptive content about how to tackle climate change, such as false arguments that nothing can be done about it or ads that promote purported solutions that are actually ineffective. The report found another 100 videos featuring this kind of content.
Despite Google’s promise more than a year ago not to sell ads on content that rejects mainstream climate science, the report shows that the tech giant is still profiting from disinformation.
The coalition argues that disinformation persists because it is profitable, and Big Tech needs to remove that incentive. The videos analyzed in the report garnered 73.8 million views as of April 17, 2023, with ads from brands including Costco, Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, and Hyundai.
In October 2021, Google announced that it was updating its ads and monetization policies on climate change, with a new policy that would “prohibit ads for, and monetization of, content that contradicts well-established scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change.” But the report found that one of the climate disinformation videos highlighted for violating that policy still ran with a preroll ad for a mosquito lamp.
The video was created by The Heartland Institute, a conservative think tank infamous for rejecting the scientific consensus on climate change.
The CAAD coalition, which includes more than 50 nonprofit organizations, is urging Google to take more decisive action against climate disinformation on its platform.
The coalition argues that the tech giant should broaden its definition of climate disinformation and ensure its policies are enforced consistently to avoid further financial incentives for spreading misinformation.
