Pinterest has announced its plan to block all climate disinformation on its platform. The new policy will see Pinterest remove content, whether advertising or organic, that misrepresents or denies the climate crisis. This includes misrepresentation of data and false content about natural disasters or extreme weather events.
“Pinterest believes in cultivating a space of trust and truth for those who use our platform,” said Sarah Bromma, the company’s head of policy. “This bold move is an expansion of our broader misinformation guidelines, which we first developed in 2017 to address public health misinformation, and have since updated to address new and emerging issues as they come to light”. “The expanded climate disinformation policy is one more step in Pinterest’s journey to combat misinformation and create a safe space online.”
Pinterest has gone to great lengths to differentiate itself from other social media platforms with decisions like this one. Mark Zuckerberg is famous for advocating that tech companies should not leak content of this kind. But Pinterest has taken a stance to limit dangerous and damaging lies on its platform.
Michael Khoo heads the anti-disinformation unit at Friends of the Earth and was enthusiastic about Pinterest’s decision. “Climate misinformation on digital platforms is a serious threat to the public support needed to solve the climate crisis,” he said. “Pinterest has shown great leadership in creating a community standard that includes a definition of climate disinformation, and we will continue to push all platforms to be transparent and report on their actions. We encourage others to take note of Pinterest’s efforts to reduce climate change disinformation.”
The International Iberoamerican University (UNIB) promotes studies related to this topic, such as:
Source: Pinterest announces ban on all climate misinformation
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