Facebook has often been accused of allowing people to post myths and falsified information related to climate and environmental changes. Facebook used to justify this by claiming that these are just public opinions and advocated the platform’s policies to allow freedom of expression. However, when the pressure increased, the company eventually launched a ‘Climate Science Information Center’ back in September 2020 in selected countries including France, Germany, UK, and the US. Now, Facebook has announced that it is expanding this Center to countries like Belgium, Brazil, Canada, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Spain, South Africa, and Taiwan.
The purpose of this initiative was to allow and provide information from the experts on climate-related posts to stop the spread of misinformation related to climate science.
Now, with some new features to the Climate Science Information Center, Facebook is aiming to debunk all the common myths related to climate and climate changes. The company has added sections that will provide current and relevant information with proper facts from climate science experts from prestigious institutes like Yale, the University of Cambridge, and the George Mason University.
Facebook has also announced that in the countries where the Climate Science Information Center is not available as yet, their users will be redirected to the UN Environment Program whenever they will search for any content related to climatic changes in their regions. This way, Facebook will ensure that only proper, relevant, and factually correct information is passed on to its users.
Apart from the expansion of this center, Facebook has also announced that it will start a new test for prompt alerts on posts related to climate changes. This test is launching in the UK first, and it will allow the users to have information labels on selected posts regarding climate sciences. These information labels will not only redirect them to fact-checked information resources available in the Climate Science Information Center, but they will also educate the users most positively.
All of these measures are to ensure that no myths or falsified information are spread through Facebook’s platform.
It is a good initiative, and it will help Facebook to regain some trust amongst its users and the regulatory authorities that are always targeting the company for its relaxed content moderation policies and its lack of fact-checking measures.
Read next: Facebook and Australia’s rift worsens as Facebook inadvertently blocked pages of various non-news organizations and its own, while blocking all the users in the region from viewing and sharing news content
The purpose of this initiative was to allow and provide information from the experts on climate-related posts to stop the spread of misinformation related to climate science.
Now, with some new features to the Climate Science Information Center, Facebook is aiming to debunk all the common myths related to climate and climate changes. The company has added sections that will provide current and relevant information with proper facts from climate science experts from prestigious institutes like Yale, the University of Cambridge, and the George Mason University.
Facebook has also announced that in the countries where the Climate Science Information Center is not available as yet, their users will be redirected to the UN Environment Program whenever they will search for any content related to climatic changes in their regions. This way, Facebook will ensure that only proper, relevant, and factually correct information is passed on to its users.
Apart from the expansion of this center, Facebook has also announced that it will start a new test for prompt alerts on posts related to climate changes. This test is launching in the UK first, and it will allow the users to have information labels on selected posts regarding climate sciences. These information labels will not only redirect them to fact-checked information resources available in the Climate Science Information Center, but they will also educate the users most positively.
All of these measures are to ensure that no myths or falsified information are spread through Facebook’s platform.
It is a good initiative, and it will help Facebook to regain some trust amongst its users and the regulatory authorities that are always targeting the company for its relaxed content moderation policies and its lack of fact-checking measures.
Read next: Facebook and Australia’s rift worsens as Facebook inadvertently blocked pages of various non-news organizations and its own, while blocking all the users in the region from viewing and sharing news content
