Google and its video streaming platform YouTube announced Thursday that they would prohibit ads on and any monetization of content that contradicts the scientific consensus on climate change.
The move will affect anyone who wants to make host content or put up an advertisement on Google or YouTube that refers to climate change as a “hoax or a scam” or denies that human activity contributes to climate change.
The new policy will be implemented next month using a combination of automated computer tools and human review.
“In recent years, we’ve heard directly from a growing number of our advertising and publisher partners who have expressed concerns about ads that run alongside or promote inaccurate claims about climate change,” Google Ads said in a statement Thursday.
“Advertisers simply don’t want their ads to appear next to this content. And publishers and creators don’t want ads promoting these claims to appear on their pages or videos,” the statement added.
Social media companies have been under pressure for years to play a greater role in addressing climate change by not allowing climate skeptics to spread their messages on their platforms.
Google said it would be careful to differentiate between content that is skeptical of climate change as a fact versus content that reports on or discusses that claim.
Public debates on climate policy, the varying impacts of climate change, or new research will be eligible for advertisements and monetization.
Google consulted “authoritative sources” on the topic of climate science when crafting this new policy, it said, including experts who contributed to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
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Earlier this week, Google introduced a new set of features on Google Maps, its flight search tool, and its main search engine, that would give users more information about how they can reduce their carbon footprint.
