Yesterday, Google announced a new advertising policy related to content on Google and YouTube that makes inaccurate claims about climate change. Google's new policy prohibits advertising for, and monetization of, content that contradicts "well-established scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change."
Google said that the policy prohibits the advertising of, and monetization for, content that:
- Refers to climate change as a hoax or a scam;
- Denies that long-term trends show the global climate is warming; and
- Denies that greenhouse gas emissions or human activity contribute to climate change.
In announcing this new policy, Google said that, "Advertisers simply don't want their ads to appear next to this content" and "publishers and creators don't want ads promoting these claims to appear on their pages or videos."
Google said that, when deciding whether to accept climate change-related content, it will "look carefully at the context in which claims are made, differentiating between content that states a false claim as fact, versus content that reports on or discusses that claim." Google also said that it will continue to allow ads and monetization on other climate-related topics, including public debates on climate policy, the impact of climate change, new research, and other topics.
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