Facebook to combat climate change related fake news

By Rahul Vaimal, Associate Editor
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Ahead the annual Climate Week Summit in New York City, Facebook launched the Climate Science Information Center to provide credible information on climate change.

The social media giant initiated this service as a result of emerging criticisms against its part in spreading misinformation regarding climatic changes.

Facebook stated that the new project is modeled on its COVID-19 Info Center which was launched early this year to deliver accurate information regarding pandemic while it has launched a similar feature for the upcoming US election as well.

The Climate Info feature will be first rolled out in the United States, France, Germany and the United Kingdom and will be made available in other countries later.

The company says that the new climate information center is an exclusive space that delivers factual sources from leading climate organizations in the world and people can rely on it in their everyday lives to fight climate change.

The center will also provide articles on climate change from quality publishers and relevant sources.

Facebook Global Policy Chief Nick Clegg says they will continue to remove false information about climate changes made by politicians even if it is among popular content.

Nick Clegg

“No social media company has ever tried to do so for the simple reason that political speeches always are characterized by exaggerations, selected uses of statistics and exaggerated claims of virtues from one candidate and vices of others.”

Nick Clegg
Global Policy Chief, Facebook

The company hasn’t yet measured the efficiency of its pandemic information center in combating false information even though they claim it as a success with 600 million people clicking on it to find details.

Facebook has also affirmed that it will achieve net-zero carbon emission for its global operations and rely completely on renewable energy in 2020.

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