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Uncle Joe

(58,107 posts)
Mon Jan 30, 2023, 12:39 PM Jan 2023

Google let Daily Wire advertise on 'climate change is a hoax' searches



(snip)

Google sold these ads even after announcing a new policy in October 2021 prohibiting ads that promote climate crisis denial. Its CEO, Sundar Pichai, publicly stated at the time that “when people come to Google Search with questions about climate change, we’ll show authoritative information from sources like the United Nations”.

(snip)

Based on these estimates, researchers say that the Daily Wire could have spent almost as much as $60m on more than 150 Google search term ads over the past two years on various topics. These search term ads also included such phrases as “argument against reparations”, “bill gates population control”, and “why does george soros hate america”. More than a dozen of the search terms were climate-related, including:

(snip)

The center focused on the Daily Wire because it is among the most popular publishers on Facebook, with levels of engagement that at times have surpassed the combined digital reach of the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC News and CNN.

In November 2021, the Center for Countering Digital Hate named the Daily Wire in a report as one of the top ten spreaders of climate disinformation on Facebook, along with other far-right outlets such as Breitbart, Newsmax and the Western Journal. Shapiro’s outlet, which reported more than $100m in revenue in 2021, was started with $4.7m in seed funding from Texas fracking billionaire Farris Wilks.

(snip)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/27/daily-wire-google-ads-climate-crisis-deniers

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Google let Daily Wire advertise on 'climate change is a hoax' searches (Original Post) Uncle Joe Jan 2023 OP
It's the age old "chicken and egg" question genxlib Jan 2023 #1
They don't have to read it Uncle Joe Jan 2023 #2

genxlib

(5,506 posts)
1. It's the age old "chicken and egg" question
Mon Jan 30, 2023, 01:03 PM
Jan 2023

Are they idiots because they read Daily Wire

or

Are they idiots so they read the Daily Wire.

This article would indicate the latter but the jury is still out.

Either way makes them idiots.

Uncle Joe

(58,107 posts)
2. They don't have to read it
Mon Jan 30, 2023, 01:11 PM
Jan 2023


(snip)

But on Google you don’t need to be factually correct in order to shape people’s opinions, the disinformation group pointed out. “Ninety-nine percent of Google clicks go to results on the first page,” Ahmed said. “If you can be the first result on a Google search, you essentially get to set the truth.”

The Daily Wire’s climate ads are particularly egregious according to the Center for Countering Digital Hate because Google publicly presents itself as having one of the most aggressive sustainability plans of any large tech company.

It promises to achieve the goal of “net-zero” carbon emissions in its operations by 2030, ten years earlier than Amazon. Last year, the company teamed up with the United Nations to provide people with “short and easy-to-understand information panels and visuals on the causes and effects of climate change” when they search for the topic on Google.

Yet in a report last year the Center for Countering Digital Hate found that major climate polluters like BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron and Shell were purchasing ads on Google searches such as “net-zero” and “eco-friendly”, giving the impression that these companies were helping to fix the climate crisis instead of being the main contributors to it.

(snip)

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/27/daily-wire-google-ads-climate-crisis-deniers


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