Twitter bans adverts that contradict science consensus on climate change

Announcement follows EU law change to force tech firms to vet themselves

Twitter has banned adverts which contradict consensus on climate change. Photo: Bloomberg

Social media company Twitter said it will ban advertisers who deny scientific consensus on climate change from its site.

The decision follows Saturday's announcement from the EU that it had agreed a deal requiring technology companies to watch their websites more closely for hate speech, disinformation and other harmful content.

“Ads shouldn’t detract from important conversations about the climate crisis,” Twitter said in a statement.

There was no indication that the change would affect user content on Twitter, which, along with Facebook, has been used by groups seeking to promote misleading claims about climate change.

The announcement, which coincided with Earth Day on Friday, came hours before the EU's deal on the vetting of social media companies took effect on Saturday.

Twitter said it would provide more information in the coming months on how it plans to provide “reliable, authoritative context to the climate conversations” its users engage in, including from the UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Twitter already has a dedicate climate topic on its site and offered what it described as “pre-bunks” during last year's UN climate conference to counter misinformation.

On Saturday, the EU said it had reached a deal to tackle hate speech and disinformation.

European Commissioner in charge of internal market Thierry Breton attends a hearing by EU Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety in Brussels, Belgium, 21 April 2022. The Committee is exchanging views with the Commission on the impacts of the new barrier at the Belarusian-Polish border on the Bialowieza Forest. EPA / OLIVIER HOSLET

The law will force technology companies to police content, make it easier for users to flag up problems and empower regulators to punish non-compliance with billions in fines.

The Digital Services Act will overhaul the rules for 27 countries and cement Europe’s reputation as the global leader in reining-in the power of social media companies and other digital platforms such as Facebook, Google and Amazon.

“With the DSA, the time of big online platforms behaving like they are too big to care is coming to an end,” Thierry Breton, EU Internal Market Commissioner, said.

The act is the EU’s third significant law involving the tech industry.

The EU’s new rules, which are designed to protect internet users and their “fundamental rights online,” should make tech companies more accountable for content created by users and amplified by their platforms’ algorithms.

Under the law, governments would be able to request companies take down content that would be deemed illegal, including material that promotes terrorism, hate speech and commercial scams.

Social media platforms would have to give users the means of flagging such content in an “easy and effective way” so that it can be removed.