YouTube bans adverts on climate change misinformation

YouTube has banned adverts on content that spread climate change misinformation.

The Google-owned video platform will no longer allow advertisements on any videos that the existence of climate change, after concerns were raised by advertisers.

YouTube will also stop providing monetisation to these videos, which the company says contradict the “scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change".

The policy will apply to content "referring to climate change as a hoax or a scam, claims denying that long-term trends show the global climate is warming, and claims denying that greenhouse gas emissions or human activity contribute to climate change".

Google says the policy will be enforced by "automated tools and human review".

The changes mean YouTube creators will be stopped from earning advertising revenue from content which denies climate change.

The news comes after YouTube removed over 30,000 misleading COVID-19 vaccine videos earlier this year.

Over the course of the pandemic the site has also taken down over 800,000 videos for wider coronavirus misinformation, such as "medically unsubstantiated" claims.

© BANG Media International