In an effort to combat “climate change denial,” Google and YouTube would no longer monetize content that contradicts the “scientific consensus” on global warming, deleting all ads from posts containing inaccurate claims.
The company announced the move in a Thursday blog post, updating its policies on ads and monetization.
“Our advertising and publisher partners … have expressed concerns about ads that run alongside or promote inaccurate claims about climate change,” it said, noting that this is not only bad for business, but impacts content creators as well.
“That’s why today, we’re announcing a new monetization policy for Google advertisers, publishers and YouTube creators that will prohibit ads for, and monetization of, content that contradicts well-established scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change.”
While the company did not offer a detailed definition of the proscribed content, it cited a few examples, including posts that deem climate change “a hoax or a scam,” as well as “claims denying that long-term trends show the global climate is warming, and claims denying that greenhouse gas emissions or human activity contribute to climate change.”
Forsided, 08.10.2021