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John,
YouTube made climate change progress when they set a policy removing money-raising ads from videos denying the reality of climate change, or denying the science that showed its cause in the burning of greenhouse gasses releasing carbon into the atmosphere. But now the climate deniers of today are getting around this prohibition -- and YouTube is letting them get away with it.
The climate change deniers of today have changed. They revised their strategies, but YouTube and its parent company Google have not revised their policies to keep up. Now climate deniers are treating global warming as harmless or are attacking climate change solutions, scientists, and advocates.
And Google is letting them advertise. In fact, according to a new report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), YouTube is making up to $13.4 million per year on these channels.
Planet Earth won’t be fooled by climate change denialism, but YouTube’s massive following, especially among young people, may be. In fact, climate change disinformation is dangerous, and it must be addressed in every form it takes.
Sign the petition urging YouTube to stop monetizing climate change denial now.
Outright climate change denial has become untenable, as climate change disasters accumulate, from record-breaking heat waves and hurricanes, to flooding and forest fires. So now the target is any form of clean energy, along with the scientists and advocates seeking solutions.
According to the CCDH report, this “new denial” was found in 70% of 2023 YouTube videos with climate-denial content, up from 35% in 2018. The main arguments are that solutions won’t work, the science is unreliable, or global warming is not really a problem.
Yet data from the World Health Organization indicates that in the coming decades, climate change will result in 250,000 more deaths per year worldwide, due to heat exhaustion, malaria, undernutrition, and diarrhea. Renewable energy can help reduce these illnesses and deaths.
Already cheaper than fossil fuels, transitioning to clean energy is the only large-scale way to address the problem effectively.
Young YouTube viewers may be especially susceptible to this misinformation. In a recent poll of over 1,000 US teens 13 to 17 years old, fully one-third agreed with the statement “climate policies cause more harm than good.”
As noted by Michael Khoo of the nonprofit Friends of the Earth, “Platforms like YouTube have billions of users and a monopoly on young people’s attention. Social media companies must stop amplifying and profiting off the climate denial that threatens action on the most pressing crisis of human history.”
Sign the petition and tell YouTube: No more profiting off climate change denial, in any form.
Thank you for prioritizing the health of the planet!
- Amanda
Amanda Ford, Director
Democracy for America
Advocacy Fund
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