Facebook claims to address their climate misinformation problem by releasing an information center, while doing nothing about climate misinformation being spread on their platform. This is like feeding a person poison while handing them a brochure about fresh vegetables. 1/9
Facebook are trying to greenwash their misinformation problem. Their platform is polluting the information landscape with climate misinformation & at the same time, they’re trying to distract us from their unwillingess to deal with the problem. 2/9
Their information center will likely have negligible impact for several reasons. First, misinformation is more viral than facts. Not being bound by reality, misinformation can be more emotive, shocking, extreme, & hence more likely to be shared. 3/9
Second, misinformation can cancel out accurate information. When people are exposed to fact & myth but don’t know how to resolve the conflict between the 2, they can disengage & not believe either. Misinformation wins in that outcome (more on this at ). 4/9
Facebook's approach to climate misinformation has been a sin of omission at best, an egregious sin of commission at worst. Their more proactive response to COVID misinformation shows they're not constrained by a technical limitation but by a lack of will. 5/9
At worst, they've actively reversed fact-checking efforts by climate experts, enabling climate denial organizations to continue to publish their misinformation. It’s not just dragging their feet. They’ve gone out of their way to facilitate spreading of misinformation. 6/9
To adequately deal with the problem of climate misinformation, Facebook should proactively stop disinformation spreading on their platform. They should also do more than passively post climate info, they should help users understand how facts get distorted by misinformation. 7/9
Supplying facts is necessary but insufficient in our fight against misinformation. If facts are vulnerable when people can’t resolve the conflict between fact & myth, then adequate solutions must also help people resolve that conflict (full video at ) 8/9
We neutralize misinformation by explaining the fallacies & rhetorical techniques in misinformation. We do need tech solutions but ultimately building public resilience & critical thinking is our last & most important line of defence against misinformation 9/9
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