Google Promises to Remove Ads from Climate Denial Sites, But Many Still


before last month United Nations global climate summitGoogle, the world’s largest media company, has made a big announcement: It will stop placing ads on sites that reject scientific consensus on climate change.

Prohibition of using the advertising program, google saidwere sites and videos that incorrectly referred to global warming as a hoax or a hoax. It’s also no longer welcome to run Google ads: Content that falsely claims that greenhouse gas emissions or human activities don’t contribute to climate change.

But new research shows that Google’s policy has so far had limited impact.

As of Wednesday, ads placed by Google were still popping up in articles, including on major right-wing sites like Breitbart, falsely calling global warming a hoax and calling the United Nations climate conference last month a “huge eco-fascist.” gas lighting operation.” In fact, diplomats from nearly 200 countries have reached a grand agreement to intensify their efforts to combat the serious dangers posed by a warmer planet.

The Center for Combating Digital Hate, a London-based nonprofit group, said on Thursday it counted at least 50 new climate denial articles across 14 different sites, all of which were posted after November 9, when Google’s new policy will take effect. an earlier report The center’s researchers found that the top 10 publishers of climate denial content received nearly 1.1 billion visits in the six months preceding the climate conference.

It’s worrisome as the ad revenue these denial sites generate by running Google ads is helping to fund more denial content, said Imran Ahmed, the center’s chief executive. “The more ad revenue they get, the more articles they can publish and get as many eye-catchers as possible,” he said.

In fact, Google’s business model to maximize its reach on the internet by using personal data and algorithms to optimize ad placements had made it “the main route for monetization of malicious content, whether it’s vaccine denial, identity-based hatred, climate.” . denial,” said Mr. Ahmed.

Google spokesperson Michael Acıman said the company had reviewed the pages in question and received “appropriate sanctions”. Earlier on Thursday, Breitbart climate denial articles that displayed ads placed by Google were no longer showing them.

“When we find content that crosses the line from policy discussions to promoting climate change denial, we stop advertising on that page or site,” Acıman said.

Experts highlight how the findings highlight how Google struggles to rein in even blatant examples of climate denial. The company’s latest commitment has been triggered by growing pressure on Google to stop monetizing the worst examples of online climate denial.

“There’s no ambiguity that these pages are incompatible with mainstream climate science,” said John Cook, an assistant professor at George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication, whose research includes using machine learning to identify climate misinformation. “It shouldn’t be difficult for them to be blacklisted.”

Dr. Cook said that while most of the rest of the world has turned away from the more blatant forms of climate denial, the United States remains particularly vulnerable. “There are places in the country where science denial is still flourishing, and these tend to be markets for such web pages,” he said. “Climate misinformation confuses and polarizes the public, delays climate action and undermines confidence in scientists.”

Google, whose parent company is Alphabet, also comes under pressure to counter electoral misinformation on their platforms, including the YouTube video sharing site.

Google said it uses a mix of automatic detection and human review to evaluate content, including YouTube videos. It normally disables ads page by page, although egregious or persistent violations can trigger action for the entire site. Publishers have the option to appeal a decision or to address their violation and apply for reinstatement.



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