texas_disinfo_report_final_v4-7aea447f2501de60.pdf

The report analyzes a disinformation campaign that falsely blamed wind energy for the February 2021 Texas power outages. It finds that while mainstream media debunked these claims, right-wing outlets and fossil fuel-funded politicians used social media to spread the narrative, with very few high-performing posts receiving fact-check labels. The authors conclude that current platform moderation is insufficient and recommend a 'two-strike' policy for repeat disinformers and the removal of climate disinformation from organic and paid content.

• Following the February 2021 Texas winter storms, a disinformation campaign falsely claimed that wind energy failures caused the rolling blackouts, utilizing a viral image of a helicopter de-icing a wind turbine that was actually taken in Sweden in 2014.
• Data shows that natural gas outages caused several times more energy losses than wind generation failures, and wind power was only projected to provide 7% of forecasted capacity during that time of year.
• Social media platforms failed to effectively moderate the disinformation; only 0.9% of interactions with analyzed high-performing posts spreading the windmill narrative carried a fact-checking label.

APA

Climate Action Against Disinformation (n.d.). texas_disinfo_report_final_v4-7aea447f2501de60.pdf. https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Texas_Disinfo_Report_final_v4.pdf

Chicago

Climate Action Against Disinformation. texas_disinfo_report_final_v4-7aea447f2501de60.pdf. n.d. https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Texas_Disinfo_Report_final_v4.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Climate Action Against Disinformation |title=texas_disinfo_report_final_v4-7aea447f2501de60.pdf |url=https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Texas_Disinfo_Report_final_v4.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{climateactionagainstdisinformationndtexasdisinforeportfinalv47aea447f2501de60pdf, author = {{Climate Action Against Disinformation}}, title = {{texas\_disinfo\_report\_final\_v4-7aea447f2501de60.pdf}}, institution = {Climate Action Against Disinformation}, url = {https://caad.info/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Texas_Disinfo_Report_final_v4.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }