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Meta Publishes Major New Report into Public Perceptions Around Climate Change

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Meta Publishes Major New Report into Public Perceptions Around Climate Change

Meta has published a major new report on public perceptions around climate change, and what can be done to address the impacts of such in various ways.

The 123-page report, conducted in partnership with Yale University, incorporates responses from 108,946 Facebook users from 192 countries, which provides a massive pool of insight into what people understand and feel about the climate crisis, and the global efforts being made to mitigate human impacts, where possible.

You can download the full ‘International Public Opinion on Climate Change’ report here, but in this post, we’ll take a look at some of the key notes.

First off, the report shows that the majority of people in nearly all countries are at least ‘somewhat’ or ‘very’ worried about climate change and its impacts, including more than 90% of respondents in Central and South America regions.

As you can see here, global concern around climate change is now pretty much universal, while regions in tropical climate zones, which are already dealing with significant climate impacts, are increasingly looking for governments to take more action.

As per Meta:

“In almost every country, majorities saw climate change as a threat to their country or territory over the next two decades, while a majority in two-thirds of the countries and territories surveyed think that climate change will harm future generations a great deal.”

The data also reflects growing acceptance of the role that humans play in climate shifts, with European Facebook users being most likely to agree that climate change is caused by human activity.

Meta Climate Change Report

Which, of course, has been the scientific consensus for many years, but remains a point of contention among climate skeptics. But with 97% of climate and meteorological experts in agreement that human inputs can and do impact the climate, it’s clear that there are things we can implement to better our environment for the future.

Which Facebook users are now looking to their governments to enact:

“People everywhere think that climate change should be a high priority for their government. Majorities in most countries in North and South America say it should be a “very high” priority.”

Meta Climate Change Report

Interestingly, most respondents also don’t believe that action to combat climate change will have negative effects on the economy, another key concern among skeptics and critics.

It’s taken some time, but it seems that broad acceptance of climate science is now becoming the norm, and it’s interesting to consider whether efforts made by social platforms to address climate misinformation are having an impact in this respect.

All social platforms have been taking steps to address climate misinformation, via fact-checks, informational prompts and reach restrictions on posts related to climate topics.

Twitter took things a step further in April, by announcing a total ban on climate misinformation in ads, while Pinterest went even further than that, by outlawing all false claims about climate change across posts and ads in its app.

Meta hasn’t taken as strong a stance, but it has expanded its fact checks on misleading climate posts, and it has sought to raise awareness of accepted facts via its Climate Science Center as well as in-stream prompts.

But many have criticized Meta’s approach – especially given research which shows that Facebook posts that include misleading climate claims are being viewed in the app over a million times every day.

Which makes it all the more interesting that Meta has published this report, which, if anything, suggests that there would be widespread support for the company in implementing a total ban on climate denial content.

Maybe this will lead to Meta taking a harder stance on such in future. For now, however, Meta is only offering insights into its own, business-specific contributions to address the issue.

“In 2021, Meta helped restore more than 2.3 million cubic meters of water through investments in water restoration projects. [We’re also progressing] towards our goal of reaching net zero emissions across our value chain, and maintaining 100% renewable energy for our global operations.”

Which is great, and Meta deserves credit for its progress. But the most significant impact Meta could have would be in addressing the spread of climate misinfo in all forms across its family of apps – and to the 3.64 billion people that use them.

You can download the full ‘International Public Opinion on Climate Change’ report here.

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Walmart says it has stopped advertising on Elon Musk’s X platform

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Walmart says it has stopped advertising on Elon Musk's X platform

Walmart said Friday that it is scaling back its advertising on X, the social media company formerly known as Twitter, because “we’ve found some other platforms better for reaching our customers.”

Walmart’s decision has been in the works for a while, according to a person familiar with the move. Yet it comes as X faces an advertiser exodus following billionaire owner Elon Musk’s support for an antisemitic post on the platform. 

The retailer spends about $2.7 billion on advertising each year, according to MarketingDive. In an email to CBS MoneyWatch, X’s head of operations, Joe Benarroch, said Walmart still has a large presence on X. He added that the company stopped advertising on X in October, “so this is not a recent pausing.”

“Walmart has a wonderful community of more than a million people on X, and with a half a billion people on X, every year the platform experiences 15 billion impressions about the holidays alone with more than 50% of X users doing most or all of their shopping online,” Benarroch said.

Musk struck a defiant pose earlier this week at the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit, where he cursed out advertisers that had distanced themselves from X, telling them to “go f— yourself.” He also complained that companies are trying to “blackmail me with advertising” by cutting off their spending with the platform, and cautioned that the loss of big advertisers could “kill” X.

“And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company,” Musk added.


Elon Musk faces backlash from lawmakers, companies over endorsement of antisemitic X post

02:23

Dozens of advertisers — including players such as Apple, Coca Cola and Disney — have bailed on X since Musk tweeted that a post on the platform that claimed Jews fomented hatred against White people, echoing antisemitic stereotypes, was “the actual truth.”

Advertisers generally shy away from placing their brands and marketing messages next to controversial material, for fear that their image with consumers could get tarnished by incendiary content. 

The loss of major advertisers could deprive X of up to $75 million in revenue, according to a New York Times report

Musk said Wednesday his support of the antisemitic post was “one of the most foolish” he’d ever posted on X. 

“I am quite sorry,” he said, adding “I should in retrospect not have replied to that particular post.”

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US Judge Blocks Montana’s Effort to Ban TikTok

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U.S. Judge Blocks Montana’s Effort to Ban TikTok in the State

TikTok has won another reprieve in the U.S., with a district judge blocking Montana’s effort to ban the app for all users in the state.

Back in May, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signed legislation to ban TikTok outright from operating in the state, in order to protect residents from alleged intelligence gathering by China. There’s no definitive evidence that TikTok is, or has participated in such, but Gianforte opted to move to a full ban, going further than the government device bans issued in other regions.

As explained by Gianforte at the time:

The Chinese Communist Party using TikTok to spy on Americans, violate their privacy, and collect their personal, private, and sensitive information is well-documented. Today, Montana takes the most decisive action of any state to protect Montanans’ private data and sensitive personal information from being harvested by the Chinese Communist Party.”

In response, a collection of TikTok users challenged the proposed ban, arguing that it violated their first amendment rights, which led to this latest court challenge, and District Court Judge Donald Molloy’s decision to stop Montana’s ban effort.

Montana’s TikTok ban had been set to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.

In issuing a preliminary injunction to stop Montana from imposing a full ban on the app, Molloy said that Montana’s legislation does indeed violate the Constitution and “oversteps state power.”

Molloy’s judgment is primarily centered on the fact that Montana has essentially sought to exercise foreign policy authority in enacting a TikTok ban, which is only enforceable by federal authorities. Molloy also noted that there was apervasive undertone of anti-Chinese sentiment” within Montana’s proposed legislation.

TikTok has welcomed the ruling, issuing a brief statement in response:

Montana attorney general, meanwhile, has said that it’s considering next steps to advance its proposed TikTok ban.

The news is a win for TikTok, though the Biden Administration is still weighing a full TikTok ban in the U.S., which may still happen, even though the process has been delayed by legal and legislative challenges.

As I’ve noted previously, my sense here would be that TikTok won’t be banned in the U.S. unless there’s a significant shift in U.S.-China relations, and that relationship is always somewhat tense, and volatile to a degree.

If the U.S. government has new reason to be concerned, it may well move to ban the app. But doing so would be a significant step, and would prompt further response from the C.C.P.

Which is why I suspect that the U.S. government won’t act, unless it feels that it has to. And right now, there’s no clear impetus to implement a ban, and stop a Chinese-owned company from operating in the region, purely because of its origin.

Which is the real crux of the issue here. A TikTok ban is not just banning a social media company, it’s blocking cross-border commerce, because the company is owned by China, which will remain the logic unless clear evidence arises that TikTok has been used as a vector for gathering information on U.S. citizens.

Banning a Chinese-owned app because it is Chinese-owned is a statement, beyond concerns about a social app, and the U.S. is right to tread carefully in considering how such a move might impact other industries.

So right now, TikTok is not going to be banned, in Montana, or anywhere else in the U.S. But that could still change, very quickly.



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EU wants to know how Meta tackles child sex abuse

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The investigation is the first step in procedures launched under the EU's new online content law known as the Digital Services Act

The investigation is the first step in procedures launched under the EU’s new online content law known as the Digital Services Act – Copyright AFP Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV

The EU on Friday demanded Instagram-owner Meta provide more information about measures taken by the company to address child sexual abuse online.

The request for information focuses on Meta’s risk assessment and mitigation measures “linked to the protection of minors, including regarding the circulation of self-generated child sexual abuse material (SG-CSAM) on Instagram”, the European Commission said.

Meta must also give information about “Instagram’s recommender system and amplification of potentially harmful content”, it added.

The investigation is the first step in procedures launched under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), but does not itself constitute an indication of legal violations or a move towards punishment.

Meta must respond by December 22.

A report by Stanford University and the Wall Street Journal in June this year said Instagram is the main platform used by paedophile networks to promote and sell content showing child sexual abuse.

Meta at the time said it worked “aggressively” to fight child exploitation.

The commission has already started a series of investigations against large digital platforms seeking information about how they are complying with the DSA.

It has sought more information from Meta in October about the spread of disinformation as well as a request for information last month about how the company protects children online.

The DSA is part of the European Union’s powerful regulatory armoury to bring big tech to heel, and requires digital giants take more aggressive action to counter the spread of illegal and harmful content as well as disinformation.

Platforms face fines that can go up to six percent of global turnover for violations.

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