Google is profiting from climate misinformation on YouTube, report finds

‘Disinformation persists because it’s profitable,’ experts say as they call for more stringent regulations

Google has been monetising videos that promote climate crisis misinformation on YouTube as recently as this month, according to new findings.

The report, published by the Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) coalition on Tuesday, highlights 100 videos with blatant lies about the climate crisis which Google ran adverts on.

The videos deny that the climate crisis is caused by greenhouse gas emissions released into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, despite overwhelming scientific evidence and consensus that this is the case.

Additionally, the report also found 100 other videos featuring deceptive content about how to tackle climate change.

The content included disinformation such as false arguments that nothing can be done about the climate crisis or promoting purported solutions that are actually ineffective and take focus away from reducing greenhouse gas emissions by large companies.

Google updated its policies in October 2021, stating that it would prohibit ads and monetisation of content that contradicts the well-established scientific consensus on the climate crisis.

Yet the report found examples of videos which violated this policy but still ran with preroll advertising for a mosquito lamp.

The 200 YouTube videos analysed in the report garnered 73.8 million views as of 17 April 2023, and featured adverts from brands such as Costco, Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, and Hyundai.

The report’s authors conducted the research by searching YouTube for key terms such as “climate hoax” and “climate scam”. Then, at least two separate researchers assessed the videos against Google and CAAD’s definitions of climate misinformation.

Google claims to have reviewed the list of videos in the dataset and removed adverts from those that violate its policy against climate change denial.

While Google states that it enforces its policy rigorously, in a statement to The Verge it acknowledges that its enforcement is not always perfect, adding that the company is “constantly working to improve our systems to better detect and remove policy-violating content”.

The CAAD report calls for a broader definition of disinformation to include content that recommends ineffective solutions for global warming, as it can delay legitimate climate action.

“Google is supporting the climate disinformation they say they want to stop ... disinformation persists because it’s profitable, and Big Tech needs to remove that incentive,” said Erika Seiber, climate disinformation spokesperson at the nonprofit Friends of the Earth.