Google let Daily Wire to place ads on searches like "climate change is a hoax"

January 27, 2023

 According to recent evidence from a misinformation monitoring organisation, a media site created by conservative celebrity Ben Shapiro paid Google to advertise on search pages that questioned the veracity of the climate catastrophe.

The Daily Wire purchased ads on search terms like "climate change is a hoax" and "why is climate change fake" over the past year, the study discovered. As a result, when people Googled these terms, stories from Shapiro's outlet were among the first results that appeared.

Google continued to sell these ads after establishing a new policy in October 2021 banning advertisements that support the denial of the climate issue. At the time, Google's CEO, Sundar Pichai, made a public statement to the effect that "we'll offer reliable information from organisations like the United Nations when people come to Google Search with concerns about climate change."

Imran Ahmed, CEO of the US and UK-based Center for Countering Digital Hate, who supplied the Guardian with exclusive access to its findings, claimed that "Google's hypocrisy has no boundaries." "They're essentially giving climate doubters the power to propagate false information,"

The center's latest findings concerning the Daily Wire were not disputed by a Google spokeswoman, who added that "where we uncover content that crosses the line from advocating blatant climate change denial to a discussion of green efforts, we remove those advertising."

An extensive list of inquiries regarding The Daily Wire's Google ad purchases received no response.

Ahmed's organisation used Semrush, a for-profit analytics tool, for its research. Semrush displays the Google phrases and search terms that brands advertise on and is used by many Fortune 500 companies. Semrush also offers estimates of how much money businesses spend on their digital marketing initiatives.

According to their projections, experts believe that over the previous two years, the Daily Wire may have spent close to $60 million on more than 150 Google search phrase advertisements covering a variety of themes. Aside from "argument against reparations," "bill gates population control," and "why does george soros hate America," other search keyword ads contained expressions like these. More than a dozen of the search phrases have to do with the climate, like:

"Is global warming a hoax?" 

"Is climate change a lie?"

 "Why is climate change fake?" 

"Climate change debunked?"

 "The true truth about wind turbines?"

A Google spokeswoman declined to comment on the budget projection.

The Daily Wire was the focus of the centre because it is one of the most popular Facebook publishers, with engagement levels that occasionally exceed the combined digital reach of the New York Times, Washington Post, NBC News, and CNN.

Along with other far-right publications including Breitbart, Newsmax, and the Western Journal, the Daily Wire was listed by the Center for Countering Digital Hate as one of the top ten Facebook users spreading misinformation about climate change in a study from November 2021. Shapiro's outlet received $4.7 million in initial money from Texas fracking millionaire Farris Wilks and reported more than $100 million in sales in 2021.

In its most recent investigation, the centre claimed to have discovered several occasions in which the Daily Wire promoted climate catastrophe denial via its Google adverts. In April 2022, a Shapiro article titled "Debunking Climate Change Hysteria" appeared as one of the top results when someone Googled the keyword "climate change debunk."

Shapiro asserted in the essay that "you've heard that climate change is going to kill all life on Earth; that it puts civilization in existential jeopardy." These are falsehoods.

Another Daily Wire advertisement from last summer linked the search term "climate change a hoax" to the publication's 2016 article "9 Things You Need To Know About The Climate Change Hoax," in which Aaron Bandler falsely asserted that "there is no evidence that the Earth has been warming in recent years." Other deliberately misspelt phrases included "gobal warming hoax" and "climate change hiax."

Google stated about this specific article that "Google advertisements are not running on this page, nor is this page being pushed in Google ads, in compliance with our policy against climate change denial content."

However, Google's rules give considerable leeway. According to its policy, "We will also keep allowing advertisements and monetization on other climate-related issues, including public discussions about climate policy, the many impacts of climate change, new research, and more."

The Daily Wire paid Google in July for every time someone searched "the actual truth about wind turbines" to promote its article, "Wind Turbines Not Only Shred Birds But Are Piling Up In Landfills."

Shapiro's outlet has promoted debunked theories on a variety of subjects, such as purchasing an ad last July on the search term "george floyd cause of death," which linked to a Daily Wire article claiming that George Floyd most likely died in 2020 from a fentanyl overdose rather than police violence. Recent fact-checking by Reuters found "no evidence" to support this assertion.

However, the misinformation organisation noted that you are not have to present accurate facts in order to sway people's beliefs on Google. According to Ahmed, 99.9% of Google clicks go to results on the first page. "You effectively get to set the truth if you can be the top result on a Google search," said one person.

According to the Center for Countering Digital Hate, The Daily Wire's climate advertisements are especially heinous given Google openly touts having one of the most ambitious sustainability initiatives of any major digital business.

By 2030, 10 years before Amazon, it pledges to have "net-zero" carbon emissions in its activities. When someone searches for the issue on Google, the business collaborated with the UN to offer "short and easy-to-understand information panels and graphics on the causes and impacts of climate change."

However, the Center for Countering Digital Hate discovered in a report from last year that major climate polluters like BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, and Shell were buying ads on Google searches for "net-zero" and "eco-friendly," giving the impression that these businesses were aiding in the solution to the climate crisis rather than being the primary causes of it.

"Google has rules against their search ads being used to spread disinformation, they should be enforcing them, even against people who give them lots of money," Ahmed said in reference to The Daily Wire ad purchases that appear to be in direct conflict with Google's own promises to promote accurate information on the climate crisis.

Under the terms of a Creative Commons licence, this article has been taken from The Guardian. Go here to read the original article.