If you are among the African adults
Climate change is real and man-made, human-produced pollution is causing it, and there is overwhelming scientific consensus that this is true.
A 2019 review of scientific papers found the consensus on the cause of climate change to be at 100%, and a 2021 study concluded that over 99% of scientific papers agree on the human cause of climate change. And yet that is not the reality that is reflected on Facebook.
A report released by Global Witness found
In their latest study, Global Witness simulated the experience of a climate-sceptic user on the social media platform. Within a few clicks, the algorithm recommended content that denied the existence of man-made global warming and attacked measures aimed at mitigating the climate crisis.
This isn't new,
In
In an effort to combat this,
They also promised to expand their flagging of posts regarding climate with information labels linking to their climate science centre and announced a
But critics say the new push has fallen short and allows vast amounts of climate misinformation to slip through the cracks.
A
Their report said an analysis of 184 posts pushing articles featuring climate denial content, published between
Meanwhile, the Global Witness experiment indicates that the
Often a user is directed to worse information, and what begins as distraction and delay narratives, ends on pages espousing outright climate denial and conspiracy.
In other words, the findings suggest that
Responding to the results,
"We combat climate change misinformation by connecting people to reliable information in many languages from leading organizations through our
The repercussions of fake news regarding the climate crisis are dangerous now and in the long-run. It doesn't only lead to distrust in the media and the spread of false or discredited science but also undermines the existence or impacts of climate change, the indisputable human influence on climate change, and the need for corresponding urgent action, according to the
The IPCC says disinformation is one of a number of issues preventing governments and the public from addressing climate change.
Its latest report, backed by 195 governments, emphasises misinformation around climate science "undermines climate science and disregards risk and urgency".
The continent is experiencing most of the effects of climate change, and disinformation is extremely dangerous as it leads to a of doubt and delays the urgent action needed to avoid the worst effects of the crisis.
Due to the climate crisis we have seen more frequent and intense drought, storms, heat waves, rising sea levels and warming oceans that can directly impact biodiversity, and people's lives and livelihoods.
The
Copyright allAfrica.com. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com)., source