A polar bear in Repulse Bay, Nunavut, Canada.
Paul Souders | Getty Images
Facebook announced on Thursday that it will now debate common myths about climate change, continuing to bow to the role of “arbiter of truth” that the company once gave up.
The social media company said it is adding a section to its climate change information center, which will contain facts with accurate information about misconceptions about climate change. This will include the fact that polar bear populations are declining due to global warming, as well as the fact that too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is detrimental to the earth’s plant life.
The company said it intends to rely on experts from George Mason University, the Yale Climate Change Communication Program and the University of Cambridge to identify and debate climate change myths.
Facebook introduced these information hubs and relied on them as a key part of its tactics to combat the widespread problem of misinformation of its services. It is a drastic change from CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s statement in May, when he defended the platform’s unfettered speech by politicians on the platform and said he did not believe that “Facebook or internet platforms in general should be arbiters of the truth.”
Previous examples include a Covid-19 information center that was introduced in March and a vote information center that was introduced in August.
Facebook unveiled its climate change information center in September, shortly after the company released a report of erroneous claims that Antifa members had started fires in Oregon. That report had gone viral on the social network.
Facebook also announced on Thursday that it will now start adding information tags to climate change posts, directing people to its climate change information center.
In addition, the company said it will now extend the hub to users in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Spain, South Africa and Taiwan. The function was available in the USA, Great Britain, France and Germany.
Users in other countries will be directed by Facebook to the UN Environment Program when looking for climate terms in the service, the company said.