Facebook did not label posts from top climate change deniers, report says

Facebook did not add labels to half of posts pushing content from top climate change deniers, according to an analysis from the Center for Countering Digital Hate.

The research, released on Wednesday, also follows news that lawyers for Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen have filed a new complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this month claiming the company misled investors about its efforts to tackle climate change and COVID-19 misinformation.

Facebook, now known as Meta Platforms FB.O, has long been under scrutiny over the spread of misinformation on its platforms. The company said last year it would add informational labels to some posts about climate change, to direct users to its new Climate Science Information Center hub.

The U.K.-based Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) in a report last November identified a list of 10 digital publishers whose articles it said accounted for about 69 per cent of Facebook interactions with climate denial articles, dubbed the "Toxic Ten."

This week, CCDH said that in an analysis of 184 posts pushing articles featuring climate denial content from these publishers, 50.5 per cent of posts did not have information labels.