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| Google runs ads on climate denial despite its promise to stop |
Google has been working hard to make good on its latest promise to stop advertising content that denies climate change, according to a new report from the nonprofit Center Against Digital Hate (CCDH).
The new study identified 50 articles of lies about climate change that were still serving Google ads after the day Google announced the lockdown.
The search giant announced a new policy in October. This policy prohibits advertising and monetization of content that violates the established scientific consensus about the existence and causes of climate change.
The new rules for advertisers, publishers, and YouTube creators were originally set on November 9th.
Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Combating Digital Hate, said, “At the time of the initial announcement, Google seemed to recognize that it had played a role in making opposing climate change a profitable business.
The company's director of communications and public affairs, Michael Aciman, said the company reviewed the pages you shared with us and took appropriate action.
The search giant said it removed ads from most URLs for violating the company's climate change policies.
An article on the Breitbart website described global warming as a hoax. Another article erroneously claimed that the question of whether the climate is changing and whether humans are the cause has not been clearly answered.
Scientists agree that human activity is causing global warming. This could lead to more extreme weather conditions and create other threats around the world.
Google pledges to stop showing ads that deny climate change
This new report comes on the heels of another study published by the Anti-Digital Hate Center in November. The study links nearly 70% of climate denial content interactions on Facebook with just 10 major publishers.
Many of these publishers deal with Google Ads. The center estimates that the company earned $1.7 million in advertising in six months this year.
Five of these publishers have reappeared in the organization's new registry for climate denial content with Google Ads.
Facebook has also been criticized by activists for not preventing the spread of climate damage information on its platform.
But it is different from Google. Facebook confirmed that the posts that activists described as misleading are posts that do not support these groups politically and do not violate its guidelines.