Digital distortion

The report examines the role of social media platforms in spreading climate disinformation, highlighting how algorithmic systems and revenue-sharing models incentivise misleading content. It specifically assesses the compliance of Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) with the EU Digital Services Act (DSA), concluding that most have failed to identify or mitigate climate disinformation as a systemic risk.

• Climate disinformation is used by fossil fuel companies, political actors, and state-affiliated entities to obstruct climate action, erode public trust, and hinder emergency responses during extreme weather events.
• Social media platforms' business models, which prioritise advertising revenue, drive the spread of climate disinformation through both paid advertising and organic algorithmic amplification.
• Algorithmic systems on platforms like Facebook and YouTube are found to prioritise and 'uprank' misleading climate content over authoritative science, often pushing users toward more extreme views.
• Financial incentives, specifically revenue redistribution programs, encourage users and 'super-spreaders' to produce high-engagement climate disinformation for profit.
• Inauthentic accounts, including bots and trolls, are used to game algorithms and artificially amplify climate denial narratives, with some linked to petro-states or fossil fuel interests.
• The report concludes that Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X/Twitter are likely in breach of the EU Digital Services Act (DSA) because they have failed to identify climate disinformation as a systemic risk in their annual assessments.
• Existing platform policies to combat climate disinformation are described as inadequate, inconsistently enforced, or non-existent, with some platforms like Meta removing previous educational resources.
• Specific examples of climate disinformation impacts include the undermining of the EU's Nature Restoration Law and the disruption of emergency services during the 2024 Valencia floods in Spain.

APA

ClientEarth (2025). Digital distortion. https://www.clientearth.org/media/otqpdgkd/clientearth-digital-distortion-nov-2025.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Digital distortion. 2025. https://www.clientearth.org/media/otqpdgkd/clientearth-digital-distortion-nov-2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=ClientEarth |title=Digital distortion |date=November 2025 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/otqpdgkd/clientearth-digital-distortion-nov-2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{clientearth2025digital, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Digital distortion}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2025}, month = nov, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/otqpdgkd/clientearth-digital-distortion-nov-2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }