How Climate Change Deniers Rise to the Top in Google Searches

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
> Date: January 2, 2018 at 4:41:12 AM EST
> To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com>
> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] How Climate Change Deniers Rise to the Top in Google Searches
> Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com
>
> How Climate Change Deniers Rise to the Top in Google Searches
> Groups that reject established climate science can use the search engine’s advertising business to their advantage, 
> gaming the system to find a mass platform for false or misleading claims.
> By HIROKO TABUCHI
> Dec 29 2017
> <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/climate/google-search-climate-change.html>
>
> Type the words “climate change” into Google and you could get an unexpected result: advertisements that call global 
> warming a hoax.
>
> “Scientists blast climate alarm,” said one that appeared at the top of the search results page during a recent 
> search, pointing to a website, DefyCCC, that asserted: “Nothing has been studied better and found more harmless than 
> anthropogenic CO2release.”
>
> Another ad proclaimed: “The Global Warming Hoax — Why the Science Isn’t Settled,” linking to a video containing 
> unsupported assertions, including that there is no correlation between rising levels of greenhouse gases and higher 
> global temperatures.
>
> (In reality, the harmful effects of carbon dioxide emissions linked to human activity, like rising temperatures and 
> melting sea ice, have been acknowledged by every major scientific organization in the world.)
>
> America’s technology giants have come under fire for their role in the spread of fake news during the 2016 
> presidential campaign, prompting promises from Google and others to crack down on sites that spread disinformation.
>
> Less scrutinized has been the way tech companies continue to provide a mass platform for the most extreme sites among 
> those that use false or misleading science to reject the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change. 
> Google’s search page has become an especially contentious battleground between those who seek to educate the public 
> on the established climate science and those who reject it.
>
> Not everyone who uses Google will see climate denial ads in their search results. Google’s algorithms use search 
> history and other data to tailor ads to the individual, something that is helping to create a highly partisan 
> internet.
>
> A recent search for “climate change” or “global warming” from a Google account linked to a New York Times climate 
> reporter did not return any denial ads. The top results were ads from environmental groups like the Natural Resources 
> Defense Council and the Environmental Defense Fund.
>
> But when the same reporter searched for those terms using private browsing mode, which helps mask identity 
> information from Google’s algorithms, the ad for DefyCCC popped up.
>
> “These are the info wars,” said Robert J. Brulle, a Drexel University professor of sociology and environmental 
> science who has studied climate advocacy and misinformation. “It’s becoming harder and harder for the individual to 
> find unbiased information that they can trust, because there’s so much other material trying to crowd that space.”
>
> After being contacted by The New York Times in mid-December, Google said it had removed an ad from its climate search 
> results, though it declined to identify which one. An ad from DefyCCC was still turning up at the top of searches 
> days later. As of Wednesday, no ads at all were turning up for Times reporters and editors running these searches.
>
> The climate denialist ads are an example of how contrarian groups can use the internet’s largest automated 
> advertising systems to their advantage, gaming the system to find a mass platform for false or misleading claims.
>
> Google allows companies to bid on search terms, and displays paid content at the top of its search results in the 
> same blue font used for unpaid content. (For example, a candy maker might bid on the term “Christmas candy” so that 
> its ads pop up when someone searches for those words.) Google identifies ads in its search results with an icon below 
> the link.
>
> [snip]
>
> Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/wa8dzp



-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/18849915-ae8fa580
Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-aa268125
Unsubscribe Now: 
https://www.listbox.com/unsubscribe/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-32545cb4&post_id=20180102061300:E2896A34-EFAD-11E7-94E6-8633005B5BDB
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com