Google still running ads for anti-climate change content, watchdog report says

Dec. 16 (UPI) -- Tech giant Google has not yet fully implemented its pledge to stop running advertisements for articles that deny climate change, according to a watchdog analysis.

Google had said on Oct. 7, ahead of the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP26 in Scotland, that it would cease running ads that promote content that deny climate and set a Nov. 8 deadline for the policy.

The Center for Countering Digital Hate said in a report Thursday that it found 50 ads for climate change-denying articles were published after the deadline. The non-governmental organization said those ads reached nearly 50,000 interactions on Facebook.

"Climate change denial is a cynical strategy that seeks to delay the action needed to prevent ecological disaster," CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed said in a statement.

Google said in response to the report that it's "taken appropriate enforcement actions." File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI

"In making their initial announcement, Google appears to recognize that they have played a part in making climate change denial a profitable business, and yet they have not followed through with real action."

Last month, the group published a "Toxic Ten" report that showed that just 10 publishers were responsible for almost 70% of Facebook interactions with climate denial content. The analysis said eight of the 10 earned $3.6 million from Google Ads in the six months leading up to Google's pledge.

Thursday's report also cited multiple ads for articles that attacked climate science as "alarmism."

Google communications manager Michael Aciman told The Verge after the report was posted that the company has "taken appropriate enforcement actions."

"When we find content that crosses the line from policy debate to promoting climate change denial, we stop serving ads on that page or site," Aciman told The New York Times.