Disinformation Dollars: How Google earns money from and funds articles that promote climate denial

A Global Witness investigation found that Google's AdTech business finances and earns revenue from The Epoch Times' climate denial content, potentially breaching Google's own publisher policies. The report estimates that these activities generated approximately $1.41 million in combined annual revenue for Google and The Epoch Times across English, Spanish, and Brazilian Portuguese websites.

• Google's advertising business is financing and earning revenue from The Epoch Times' articles that challenge the existence and severity of climate change, which Global Witness argues violates Google's policies against "unreliable and harmful claims" that "contradict authoritative scientific consensus on climate change."
• Global Witness estimates that Google's AdTech generates approximately $960,000 annually for The Epoch Times and $450,000 annually for Google, totaling close to $1.5 million in combined revenue over the last 12 months across the website's Global English, Spanish, and Brazilian versions.
• Evidence collected on 3 and 4 September 2024 showed specific advertisements from a betting firm in Ireland, a manufacturer in Australia, a Brazilian insurance company, and a Barcelona-based higher education provider appearing next to articles claiming man-made global warming is a "hypothesis", that human CO2 emissions make a small contribution to climate change, or that climate science relies on faulty temperature data.
• Global Witness calls for increased regulation of the opaque AdTech system to prevent tech companies from funding climate disinformation, citing a European Commission-commissioned study that found a "strong case to reform digital advertising."

APA

Global Witness (n.d.). Disinformation Dollars: How Google earns money from and funds articles that promote climate denial. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/disinformation-dollars-how-google-earns-money-from-and-funds-articles-that-promote-climate-denial/

Chicago

Global Witness. Disinformation Dollars: How Google earns money from and funds articles that promote climate denial. n.d. https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/disinformation-dollars-how-google-earns-money-from-and-funds-articles-that-promote-climate-denial/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Global Witness |title=Disinformation Dollars: How Google earns money from and funds articles that promote climate denial |url=https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/disinformation-dollars-how-google-earns-money-from-and-funds-articles-that-promote-climate-denial/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{globalwitnessnddisinformation, author = {{Global Witness}}, title = {{Disinformation Dollars: How Google earns money from and funds articles that promote climate denial}}, institution = {Global Witness}, url = {https://globalwitness.org/en/campaigns/digital-threats/disinformation-dollars-how-google-earns-money-from-and-funds-articles-that-promote-climate-denial/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }