YouTube Rakes In Millions From Ads On Climate Change Denial Channels: Report

A recent report reveals that YouTube is generating millions of dollars annually through advertisements on channels disseminating false information about climate change.

This is occurring as content creators employ innovative strategies that circumvent the social media platform's policies aimed at countering misinformation.

The Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) utilised artificial intelligence to analyse transcripts from 12,058 YouTube videos spanning the last six years.

According to the report, these channels disseminated content that challenges the scientific consensus on climate change, specifically asserting that human activities are not contributing to the observed long-term changes in temperature and weather patterns.

Despite Google's policy prohibiting videos that make such claims from earning ad revenue on YouTube, the report discovered that 70% of climate denial content on the analysed channels in the past year centered on discrediting climate solutions as impractical.

According to the CCDH report, YouTube is making up to $13.4 million a year from ads on such channels.