Twitter announced that it will ban ads with content that contradicts authorities on climate change.
All advertisements that contradict the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and other unspecified bodies will be prohibited, the company said Friday, Earth Day.
“We believe that climate denialism shouldn’t be monetized on Twitter, and that misrepresentative ads shouldn’t detract from important conversations about the climate crisis,” leaders from the company’s sustainability team wrote in a blog post.
“We recognize that misleading information about climate change can undermine efforts to protect the planet,” Twitter added.
The social media giant said it would assess whether an ad breaks its rules on climate change content based on what is “informed by authoritative sources, like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Reports.”
The company added that it would share more details in the months ahead regarding its efforts to add “reliable and authoritative context” to climate conversations happening on Twitter.
As part of its Earth Day commitments, Twitter pledged to increase its investments in carbon-removal technology, committed to switching to renewable electricity at its offices, and said that by the end of 2022, it will use carbon-neutral power sources at its data centers.
Social media companies have been under pressure for years to censor climate skeptics.
Google and its video streaming platform, YouTube, announced in October that they would prohibit ads on and any monetization of content that contradicts the scientific consensus on climate change.
Reporting by The Washington Examiner.
