Facebook advertisers promoted false claims about climate change during COP26 summit
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It comes after conservative media network Newsmax ran an ad on Facebook that called man-made global warming a 'hoax'
Facebook is in the headlines yet again. This time for advertising misleading and false claims about climate change during the COP26 summit.
It comes after conservative media network Newsmax ran an ad on Facebook that called man-made global warming a "hoax."
The advertisement, which had 200,000 views, had multiple versions. In one of them, "modern doomsayers" are condemned for wrongly predicting climate crises for decades.
Fossil fuel companies and lobbying groups spent $574,000 on "greenwashing" as per UK-based think-tank InfluenceMap.
"While ads like these run across many platforms, Facebook offers an extra layer of transparency by requiring them to be available to the public in our Ad Library for up to seven years after publication," a Facebook spokesperson said in a statement.
Chief Technology Officer Mike Schroepfer said We continually reevaluate what the state of the world is and what is our role, which starts with trying to allow people free expression, and then intervening when there are harms happening that we can prevent."
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Facebook is already facing stinging criticism after whistleblower Frances Haugen revealed that the company knew its Instagram photo app had the potential to harm teen mental health.
Faced with a barrage of bad publicity due to Haugen's revelations, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg had announced that the company will now be called Meta Platforms Inc., or Meta for short, to reflect what CEO Mark Zuckerberg said is its commitment to developing the new surround-yourself technology known as the “ metaverse.”
Skeptics have accused the company of trying to change the subject from the Facebook Papers, the trove of leaked documents that have plunged it into the biggest crisis since it was founded in Zuckerberg’s Harvard dorm room 17 years ago.
(With inputs from agencies)