Google is continuing its crusade against fake news, a strategy it has strengthened since the pandemic began. After putting a brake on anti-vaccines, the next step is to stop those who deny the existence of climate change . Thus, those in Mountain View announced new guidelines that, if not respected, will directly affect the pockets of deniers of the issue.
As of today, content from YouTube advertisers, publishers and creators that contradicts the “well-established scientific consensus on the existence and causes of climate change” will not be monetized . The Mountain Viewers have grown tired of the situation and will attack those responsible where it hurts the most.
“This includes content that refers to climate change as a hoax or a scam; which denies that long-term trends show that the planet is warming and claims that deny that greenhouse gas emissions or human activity contribute to climate change. “
In addition, Google itself acknowledges that in recent years some advertisers showed concern that their advertising would appear in content that denies climate change. For their part, content creators also expressed concern that ads with false information damage the image of their channels or media. “Publishers and creators do not want ads promoting these claims to appear on their websites or videos.”
Of course, in order to identify the contents that violate the rules, an automated system and human moderators will intervene. Google ensures that will evaluate the context of the claims to determine if the content denies climate change or if it is simply a discussion that addresses the issue.
Google launches against anti-vaccines
Beyond climate change, Google also redoubled efforts to stop the anti-vaccine videos that have flooded YouTube in recent months. At the end of September, they made it clear that they will remove any video that promotes false information about vaccines . “Our policies not only cover specific routine vaccines, such as those for Measles and Hepatitis B, but also apply to general statements about vaccines,” they added. The problem, of course, is that this measure came too late.
