In this post, I will summarise a journal article that reviewed the literature about online, climate-related misinformation.
I was prompted to revisit this article ahead of my appearance at tomorrow’s panel - Women Leading Climate Action: Fighting Fake News, hosted by ActionAid and Women’s Agenda.
Which publication are we talking about?
Treen, K. M. d,. Williams, H. T. P., & O’Neill S. J. (2020) Online misinformation about climate change. WIREs Clim Change, 11, e665. doi: 10.1002/wcc.665
What was the authors’ aim?
To answer these questions about online misinformation relating to climate change;
- What is it?
- Who is involved?
- How is it spread?
- Why does it matter?
- What strategies exist to counteract it?
What did the authors find?
What is misinformation?
Misinformation is “…information that is false, inaccurate or misleading” (p. 3). This information doesn’t have to be intentionally deceitful, but it can be (which would also make it ‘disinformation’).
Earlier research into misinformation used terms like climate ‘skepticism’ (for the correct definition of scientific skepticism, see here), climate ‘denialism’, and climate ‘contrarianism’ - the common thread here is a skewed portrayal of information that misleads the listener or reader.
Who is involved?
The current authors cite Bjornberg et al., (2017) who found six categories of actors who deny climate science (the examples have been added by me);
- Scientists - e.g., several open letters disputing climate change and supposedly penned by scientists, are mostly signed by individuals with no climate science expertise (e.g., 10/506 self-identified as climate scientists)
- Governments - there are some examples in the Australian government
- Political and religious organisations, including think tanks and foundations - e.g., the Heartland Institute
- Industry, often oil/coal extraction - e.g., Exxon Mobil
- Media, particularly those with right-wing affiliations - e.g., The Australian
- Members of the public, particularly conservative white males - you might be able to think of your own examples here…
How is it spread?
- Misinformation is often funded by wealthy corporate bodies (like fossil fuel companies).
- The funders pay other organisations (e.g., conservative think-tanks) or individuals (e.g., contrarian scientists) to create or produce misinformation into the public sphere.
- Such misinformation is then be picked up by conservative politicians, right-wing media, or denier bloggers. The one piece of misinformation can be recycled again and again through these different sources, making their arguments seem stronger than they really are (see this research about how repetitions can make fake news seem more true).
- Members of the general public receive the misinformation. Echo chambers can also form here.
a. Individuals can be more or less susceptible to misinformation, depending on the algorithmic bias behind their social media platforms, pre-existing beliefs or ideologies, and the social norms around them.
Why does it matter?
Doubt about climate change (whether it’s happening, man-made, and/or bad) has stymied action for years.
Alarmingly, misinformation might have had the broader impact of “…causing people to stop believing in facts altogether…” (p. 9). When we cannot agree on basic facts, we cannot move forward as a productive, well-informed society.
What strategies exist to counteract it?
Many strategies are possible.
We can try to correct misinformation after it has been given - several best practice strategies exist (e.g., offer a plausible alternative to the misinformation).
We could try to inoculate people against misinformation before they even receive it - for example, by explicitly warning people that they may be misinformed, or educating them even earlier about critical thinking, or climate change itself.
Technological and regulation strategies are also possible. For example, detecting malicious social media accounts, redesigning ranking algorithms, or fining those who spread misinformation.
TLDR
Misinformation is false or inaccurate information. It’s funded, produced, and spread by corporates, politicians, media, and individuals. Countering such diverse sources of misinformation will require education, regulation, and effective corrections.