On Thursday , Facebookannouncedit was taking newfangled steps to avail combatclimate alteration misinformation on its platform , including create a Ulysses Simpson Grant programme to invest in fact - checking go-ahead worth a whole $ 1 million dollars . ( So generous to throw the spare change you found in between your couch cushions at this problem , Mark Zuckerberg ! )
It comes with a deal of other announcements , but they ’re windowpane plume on a real trouble . A raw written report looking at societal media and the Texas blackout released the same day shows Facebook is awash in climate misinformation that a few pinch wo n’t fix . A astonishing 99.1 % of interactions on the top social media mail service pushinglies about air current energycausing the blackouts happened on posts with no fact check label .
“ They ’re move deck chairs on the Titanic , ” Michael Khoo , who lean the disinformation campaign at Friends of the Earth , said of the Modern policy . “ They ’re not see at the tangible problem of misinformation . ”
Photo: Richard Drew (AP)
In addition to $ 1 million Facebook pledged , the company also said it will flesh out the Climate Science Information Center itcreated last yearto aid fact - check posts on the website . Now , Facebook said , the feature of speech — which they ’re renaming the Climate Science Center — will be updated with “ additional features to proficient inform and engage our community on climate change , ” including new fact about climate alteration and quizzes to prove user ’ climate knowledge .
A few Buzzfeed circa 2015 - stylus quiz and a mere $ 1 million from a fellowship presently value at more than $ 1 trillion does n’t vocalise like much . And as the newreportfrom Friends of the Earth illustrates , Facebook ’s climate misinformation job carry deep . The report looks at misinformation that spread on Facebook , Twitter , YouTube , and other social media platforms in the aftermath of theTexas blackoutslast February , six calendar month after Facebook created the Climate Science Information Center and started fact - checking Post .
If you ’ll recall , animage of a frozen turbinespread like wildfire on right - backstage social mass medium spaces , erroneously labeled as a picture of a Texas turbine during the dusty snap . Thelie that frozen turbines caused the blackoutswas then wide picked up byRepublican politiciansand tattle heads , fueled byclimate disinformation groupswith tie to the oil and gas industry . ( The lie had real political ramifications : Texas politicianspushed to financially hogtie renewable energyduring the legislative session in the bounce , claiming that their “ deficiency of reliableness ” during the dimout meant the state ask more financial backing from those industries . )
The report notes that national and local news show outlets were quick to expose the image . “ outlet generally do n’t straight up photographic print climate denial any longer , ” Khoo said . “ But on social media , you may put up that image and it wring up millions of views . To me , that makes Facebook the last citadel of mood denial . ”
Meanwhile , other spot containing misinformation but no turbine exposure — like apostfrom Rep. Dan Crenshaw mistakenly blame wind turbines and apostby Fox News connect to a Tucker Carlson segment on the turbines — were allowed to spread out to much larger audiences without fact check tags , generating one C of thou of interactions . Using Crowdtangle data on the top - performing Facebook berth , Friends of the Earth estimated that less than 1 % of users ’ interactions with the top social media posts containing the false wind turbine narrative contained a fact - check recording label .
This number , Khoo mark , could actually be with child or smaller , because Facebook does n’t make its fact - checking metrics or other strategy to foresee misinformation — include how it minify the circulation of false posts , a tactic itdescribedin its announcement last year — public . “ This is the thwarting : The denominator is the shameful box , ” Khoo said . “ They say , ‘ we de - emphasize the post , ’ but it obviously does n’t work because these numbers show it did n’t hold on it from being widespread . This reputation is only establish on what Crowdtangle can see , or what scanning through case-by-case post can see . There ’s a much easy issue , and they ’re not giving it to us . ”
“ This report card clearly states that our fact - checking married person quickly debunk false claim about the Texas storm and that we label ninety percent of the highest - performing post containing a false idle words turbine image , ” a Facebook spokesperson allege in an e-mail . “ Many of the example in the report cite as not experience labels are simply positions that the system disagrees with . We ’re link people to important and up - to - date information about climate change through the Climate Science Center , and today we announced new features to further foreshorten misinformation on our platform . ”
Facebook and other platforms , Khoo said , could be much more aggressive in how they draw close climate denial on their platforms . Many of the most proficient clime self-denial bill , like Tucker Carlson , are repeat offender . “ I amply believe , and have argued to [ Facebook ] , that you need to put a round around them and advance subdue their discourse about climate change until they ’re fact - checked , ” Khoo said . “ This is not a freedom of delivery issue — they can talk about mood modification , they just have to talk about it accurately . ”
Khoo also point to a study usher thatmisinformation about the election cast off by more than 70%after Trump and other right - wing leaders were booted off Twitter .
“ I ’m a big devotee of deplatforming the known prevaricator , ” he said . “ You get disembarrass of the liars , and guess what , you have fewer lies . ”
Update 9/16/21 10:19 A.M. ET : This post has been updated with a gossip from Facebook .
FacebookFact - checkingMark ZuckerbergOperating systemsSocial mediasoftwareTucker Carlson
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