Facebook has come under a firestorm of criticism in recent years for its failure to clamp down on misleading information, especially when it comes to the subject of climate change. In response, Facebook has announced that it will start labeling posts about climate change with a banner that will direct people to its “Climate Science Information Center,’ an information page on climate change.
The labels are set to appear on Facebook posts in the UK, with the company pledging to start rolling them out elsewhere “soon.”
While the new labels are one way for Facebook to take more action against misleading climate change content, it doesn’t address original concerns raised by legislators such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) last year. If you don’t recall, Warren called out Facebook to change its policies soon fact-checking after the social media giant reversed a decision by its fact-checkers to rate an op-ed as “false” for including inaccurate information and cherry-picked data on climate change.
“The future of our planet is at stake, and there should be no company too big, too powerful, and too opaque to be held accountable for its role in the climate crisis. Facebook is no exception,” said Warren and other senators in a 2020 statement.
