COP, LOOK, LISTEN
ISSUE 1 | 30 NOV 23 |
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Welcome to the first edition of COP, LOOK, LISTEN in 2023: a regular bulletin analysing the state of
climate communications during COP28. Brought to you by Climate Action Against Disinformation, each bulletin is the product of hundreds of hours of work from some of the world’s leading experts in climate misinformation, climate policy and climate action. We hope you find it useful.
COP28 gets underway today - two weeks of negotiations involving an estimated 70,000 policymakers, journalists, civil society members and industry lobbyists. While we monitor the airwaves during this first crucial day, we proudly present some key findings from our latest report. “Deny, Deceive, Delay Vol. 3” is hot off the press from yesterday’s launch.
Plus, don’t download the COP28 app - see our security alert for more.
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New users typing “#climate” into X’s search bar will most likely be recommended “#ClimateScam”. We first made this discovery in
July 2022 and documented the hashtag’s ongoing popularity during COP27. However, heading into COP28 #ClimateScam has overtaken other hashtags such as #ClimateCrisis and #ClimateEmergency for total tweets, replies and retweets.
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This
hashtag is a problem seemingly unique to X. It’s driven by a handful of users, many of whom are X Premium subscribers and/or boast an audience in the thousands. Those going down the #ClimateScam rabbit hole will see denial of the existence, severity or impacts of climate change, plus citing of wider conspiracy theories like The Great Reset.
One of #ClimateScam’s most prolific spreaders - Wide Awake Media - has gained over 250,000 followers in just 9 months since they first used the hashtag. Larger influencers like Jordan B Peterson (4.8 million followers) and Andrew Tate (8.3 million followers) have
also joined the discourse this year, adding significant virality to this trend.
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15 websites that publish popular climate misinformation are profiting from it, thanks to monetisation via 157 advertising exchanges. That’s right: for many publishers, misleading the public about
climate change still pays. Websites like The Daily Telegraph, The Daily Wire, Breitbart and Sky News Australia earn money from adverts served next to content that fundamentally rejects or undermines the scientific consensus on climate change. In some cases even referring to it as a “hoax”.
Advertising exchanges are part of the wider ecosystem of the “adtech industry”. They bid for ad space across the Internet for thousands of brands. But their systems remain opaque. This means many brands whose values claim to be aligned with climate targets are likely paying to appear next to misinformation without their knowledge.
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A full page pop up advert for Home Depot, served by Undertone, monetises a Washington Post article titled “When the young are brainwashed by the climate hoax”
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Ad for online marketplace Temu is placed by Google on an article in The Telegraph. The claim presented in the headline and wider piece has been comprehensively debunked.
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Action 1
Online platforms play a key role in the spread of climate misinformation. When we ranked five major platforms on their policies to tackle it, all were lacking. However, X was by far the worst, scoring just 1 out of a possible 21 points. Landmark regulation
from the EU and the UN may start to address the problem, but this will only turn around fast enough with strong, coordinated pressure and advocacy.
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Action 2
The self-regulatory nature of the adtech industry is failing. Policymakers need to ensure that advertisers have access to granular, log-level data from ad exchanges and ensure that ad exchanges cannot own too much of the full adtech supply chain, which cause clear conflicts of interest. Journalists and advertisers - especially direct customers - need to pressure these middlemen and hold them accountable.
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Do not download the official COP28 app.
At COP27, CAAD partners discovered that the app launched by the Egyptian Presidency could be used as a cyberweapon. Experts are reviewing the source code as we speak, but current signals suggest that the UAE-launched version is equally suspect this year, enabling sweeping and invasive permissions on people’s devices.
With thousands of high-profile people in one place, this conference is a prime opportunity for hackers and surveillance. Here are some more digital security tips for those on the ground:
Do not accept free SIM cards at the airport, when crossing the border or within the summit venue. These are often linked to visitor’s passports, and may compromise your device.
Do not scan QR codes, even when they look official. There is no way to verify where the code routes you to, or if it enables spyware on the way there.
Avoid public WiFi, especially within the conference. You can buy personal internet routers - a small pod you carry in your bag - for a good price in Dubai. Otherwise, we recommend e-SIMs enabled for roaming.
Use a VPN at all times: on phones, laptops, tablets or any other device.
Avoid sharing your real-time location, for example via apps like ‘Find My Phone’.
Remove apps and private information that you don’t need from your devices while in the country. The less there is to hack, the less vulnerable it leaves you.
Never leave a device unattended. That includes the official Media Center, summit pavilions and negotiating rooms. It only takes a few minutes for a phone or laptop to be compromised.
If you’re worried your device may have been hacked, AccessNow runs a free, 24/7 Digital Security Helpline in multiple languages.
For non-digital safety and security, you may find this resource useful during your stay.
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Highly visible, emotional and uncertain. That’s why extreme weather events serve as such fertile ground for climate disinformation in Latin America, according to a new report by Greenpeace Roots, Friends of the Earth and Purpose. These events are weaponised to sow doubt about the impacts of climate change and spread narratives opposing renewable energy. They are especially exploitable in non-English-speaking contexts, due to Big Tech platforms “neglecting” content moderation in other languages.
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The usual suspects. The beginning of COP usually sees a spike in all climate discourse - online and offline - as world leaders descend on the summit and make high-profile speeches. This includes climate misinformation, particularly repeat offenders branding the conference as ‘elitist’, ‘hypocritical’ and ‘neo-colonial’, to name a few. It might feel counter-intuitive, but ignoring bad-faith attacks is often the best course of action here. We recommend that campaigners get ahead of these messages through inoculation and reframing techniques. Meanwhile, journalists can follow our field guide to disarm mis- and disinformation effectively in their reporting.
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That’s it for today - see you tomorrow!
If you have any investigative leads CAAD should explore, or want to find out more about our research and intel during the summit, please email contact@caad.info. We also have team members on the ground in the UAE who are available for interviews and side-events as useful.
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