On #EarthDay, we want to focus on the information pollution poisoning our discourse and undermining action on climate change. We’re highlighting our work on "disinformation pipelines” that pump deceptive content to millions, while the polluters profit from each click and share 🧵
(1) Severe weather hobbled the Texas grid in February, but the disinformation pipeline spread confusion about why. Deceptive outlets quickly created a misleading narrative blaming the power outages on wind-turbine failures. 
They stripped news stories of their context, used affiliated Facebook groups, pages, and accounts to amplify the lies, and eventually got the story parroted on primetime TV and repeated by Gov. Abbott. The narrative reached millions before platforms acted bit.ly/3aaMYLa
(2) Last fall a conspiracy theory linking the Oregon wildfires to Antifa groups began circulating online. The story originated with QAnon accounts, was boosted by a Russian outlet, and soon spread into "Reopen" Facebook groups formed in protest of lockdown.
Emergency call centers were overwhelmed with Antifa fears, while armed men manned checkpoints looking for perpetrators. Our research found these lies still flooding Reopen groups. As a result, the largest group (171,000 members) was removed by Facebook
gmfus.org/blog/2020/09/1…
gmfus.org/blog/2020/09/1…
(3) Last summer we examined disinformation targeting Greta Thunberg. We unearthed 5 false narratives about her: that she was connected to Soros, supported Antifa, was a puppet of others, was a shill for the climate-industrial complex & was mentally infirm bit.ly/3diDuPS
Disinformation erodes trust in elections, endangers public health, and sabotages efforts to combat climate change. To counter it, we need to update offline laws, invest in civic infrastructure to boost trustworthy info, and work with allies to promote and monitor codes of conduct
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