Google prohibits ads that promote or make money from climate change denial

Google is cracking down on digital ads that promote the idea that climate change is a hoax or make money from that kind of content, hoping to limit revenue for climate change deniers and stop the spread of misinformation on its platforms.

The company said in a blog post on Thursday, Oct. 7 that the new policy will also apply to YouTube, which last week announced a sweeping crackdown of vaccine misinformation.

"We've heard directly from a growing number of our advertising and publisher partners who have expressed concerns about ads that run alongside or promote inaccurate claims about climate change," the statement posted on Google's AdSense page said.

"Publishers and creators don't want ads promoting these claims to appear on their pages or videos."

The company said the restrictions will prohibit ads that promote or monetize content that contradicts well-established scientific consensus around climate change. That will apply to claims that climate change is a hoax or a scam, that deny long-term trends show the global climate is warming, or that deny greenhouse gas emissions or human activity contribute to climate change.

Google said it would use both automated tools and human reviewers to enforce the policy, which takes effect in November for publishers and YouTube creators, and in December for advertisers.

Advertisements will still be allowed on content that's about related topics like public debates on climate policy or the varying impacts of climate change.