Where does your crazy climate-denying uncle come up with those outlandish talking points that he trots out at Thanksgiving or Christmas? Things like: “Wind turbines cause autism!”
Whatever he's saying probably isn't something he made up on his own. In all likelihood, he's been watching too much YouTube, the source of an alarming amount of climate disinformation. But it’s not just the volume of climate disinformation that’s changing on Youtube, it’s also the specific talking points that people use to undermine public understanding.
As Callum Hood from the Centre for Countering Digital Hate explorers in a new paper, there are really two eras of climate denial: Old denial, which is the head in the sand, "climate change isn't happening” or “climate change isn't caused by humans” versus something a lot more pernicious and harder to combat. New denial. In this conversation, we get into how it is that climate deniers changed their tactics, what external conditions they are are responding to, why manosphere influencers are becoming climate deniers, as well as the financial incentives for spreading this stuff. And of course, there’s the role that tech platforms have in profiting from or combating climate disinformation.
For our earlier conversation with Callum on incels and alphas, listen to Season 1: Episode 1.
Links:
Listen to our previous episode with Callum on the myth of the "alpha" and incels
Read the CCDH’s report on online climate denial.
The Heartland Institute’s own leaked internal memos admit they’re climate deniers.
How Jordan Peterson generates millions of Youtube hits for climate deniers
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