{"id":1457700,"date":"2022-04-29T08:16:15","date_gmt":"2022-04-29T12:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1457700"},"modified":"2022-04-29T08:16:31","modified_gmt":"2022-04-29T12:16:31","slug":"big-tech-censors-are-pivoting-from-covid-to-climate-change-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/big-tech-censors-are-pivoting-from-covid-to-climate-change-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Tech Censors Are Pivoting From Covid To Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbig-tech-censors-are-pivoting-from-covid-to-climate-change-2%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1457700&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/flood-e1651084258137-1.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Amid news of Elon Musk\u2019s desire to buy and restore free speech to Twitter, the social media company <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.twitter.com\/en_us\/topics\/company\/2022\/accelerating-our-climate-commitments-on-earth-day\">announced<\/a> a new policy last Friday prohibiting all advertisements that they say \u201ccontradict scientific consensus on climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The move comes just days after former President Barack Obama appeared at Stanford University to effectively <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/entertainment-arts\/story\/2022-04-21\/la-ent-obama-disinformation-stanford\">call for more censorship<\/a> on Big Tech platforms. \u201cWhile content moderation can limit distribution of clearly dangerous content, it doesn\u2019t go far enough,\u201d he lamented. \u201cPeople are dying because of misinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Obama is advocating for an expansion of the restrictive and undemocratic tactics used by governments and their allies in Silicon Valley during the Covid-19 outbreak to promote regime-approved narratives and suppress dissent.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s not the first time we\u2019ve heard this message from leftist elites. \u201cWhat we learned from this Covid crisis,\u201d Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau <a href=\"https:\/\/townhall.com\/tipsheet\/katiepavlich\/2021\/08\/31\/justin-trudeau-admits-the-left-will-use-covid-to-gain-all-kinds-of-power-n2595060\">let slip<\/a> last summer, \u201cwe will be applying to the climate crisis, to the housing crisis, to reconciliation, to making sure everyone has good jobs.\u201d We\u2019re now seeing this Orwellian vision take form.<\/p>\n<p>Google has already <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/google-ads\/answer\/11221321?hl=en\">banned<\/a> advertisements that \u201ccontradict well-established scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change.\u201d YouTube and Facebook now display Covid-style warning labels and \u201cinformation panels\u201d next to videos and posts that mention climate change or global warming. But that\u2019s not all.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, Pinterest \u2014 a social media service commonly used for sharing recipes, images of home decor, and fashion ideas \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.pinterest.com\/en\/post\/combating-climate-misinformation-on-pinterest\">said<\/a> it would begin aggressively censoring user content that strays from prevailing climate change orthodoxy.<\/p>\n<h2>Labeling Dissent as \u2018Misinformation\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The ban on so-called \u201cclimate misinformation\u201d includes removing content that \u201cdenies the existence or impacts of climate change, the human influence on climate change, or that climate change is backed by scientific consensus.\u201d In other words, you\u2019re no longer allowed to express what <em>you<\/em> believe is true on Pinterest.<\/p>\n<p>Under the new policy, \u201cFalse or misleading content about climate change solutions that contradict well-established scientific consensus\u201d will be removed, as well as \u201cContent that misrepresents scientific data, including by omission or cherry-picking, in order to erode trust in climate science and experts.\u201d Notice a familiar theme?<\/p>\n<p>It turns out the \u201cclimate misinformation policy\u201d isn\u2019t really about the climate. Rather, it seems the bulk of Pinterest\u2019s policy is aimed at ensuring that no one on its platform challenges the \u201cconsensus\u201d or proclamations of unassailable \u201cexperts.\u201d Put another way, free and independent thought is the real problem that must be stopped.<\/p>\n<h2>No Debate Allowed<\/h2>\n<p>In order to accomplish this \u2014 in order to censor ideas and alternative perspectives that the San Francisco-based company disapproves of \u2014 Pinterest says it has partnered with \u201cexperts\u201d (there\u2019s that word again) including the Climate Disinformation Coalition and Conscious Advertising Network to help \u201cinform and develop our policy based on common misinformation themes they\u2019re seeing across media platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So might we expect viral, hyperbolic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/onpolitics\/2019\/01\/22\/ocasio-cortez-climate-change-alarm\/2642481002\/\">claims<\/a> about the impact of climate change made by the likes of Green New Deal co-author Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to be flagged and removed for promoting misinformation? Of course not. Instead, what we\u2019ll likely see is the censoring of people such as best-selling author Bjorn Lomborg \u2014 who believes climate change is real but does <em>not<\/em> believe it represents an apocalyptic threat to humanity.<\/p>\n<p>For example, an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/climate-activists-disasters-fire-storms-deaths-change-cop26-glasgow-global-warming-11635973538\">op-ed<\/a> by Lomborg in The Wall Street Journal last year noted that despite breathless hysteria from climate activists and the corporate media, worldwide deaths from extreme weather events have actually fallen dramatically over the past 100 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA century ago, almost half a million people died on average each year from storms, floods, droughts, wildfires and extreme temperatures. Over the next 10 decades, global annual deaths from these causes declined 96%, to 18,000. In 2020, they dropped to 14,000.\u201d These numbers may well \u201cerode trust in climate science and experts.\u201d By Pinterest\u2019s new standard, that\u2019s enough to have them scrubbed from their website.<\/p>\n<p>Then there\u2019s this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YRvf00NooN8\">recent exchange<\/a> between Musk and TED\u2019s Chris Anderson: \u201cThere\u2019s a consensus of scientists, a large consensus of scientists, who believe if we haven\u2019t completely eliminated greenhouse gasses or offset them completely by 2050, effectively, we\u2019re inviting climate catastrophe,\u201d Anderson noted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am not one of the doomsday people, which may surprise [you]. I actually think we\u2019re on a good path,\u201d Musk pushed back. \u201cSo long as we are not complacent, as long as we have a high sense of urgency about moving towards a sustainable energy economy, then I think things will be fine\u2026The future\u2019s going to be great. Don\u2019t worry about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By his own admission, Tesla\u2019s CEO \u2014 one of the most brilliant and capable minds on the planet \u2014 is openly bucking \u201cwell-established scientific consensus,\u201d which we\u2019re now told qualifies as \u201cclimate misinformation.\u201d See how this works?<\/p>\n<h2>Reasonable Disagreement Is a Threat<\/h2>\n<p>Michael Khoo serves as \u201cclimate disinformation co-chair\u201d at Friends of the Earth. He believes Pinterest has \u201cdemonstrated great leadership\u201d and wants other tech platforms to follow suit. \u201cClimate disinformation on digital platforms is a serious threat to the public support needed to solve the climate crisis,\u201d according to Khoo.<\/p>\n<p>What\u2019s revealing is the framing of Khoo\u2019s above statement: In his judgment, the \u201cserious threat\u201d is not the supposed \u201cclimate crisis\u201d but the prospect of insufficient \u201cpublic support.\u201d Indeed, what Khoo appears most worried about is that competing points of view may be more persuasive than his own \u2014 so they must be crushed.<\/p>\n<p>For the second time in as many years, we\u2019re witnessing a partisan public relations campaign masquerading as objective science. Once again, it involves politicians, Big Tech, and the country\u2019s expert class working in tandem to silence opposing voices by targeting free speech online.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">\n  Kiyan Kassam is a conservative writer and journalist based in Vancouver. Follow him on Twitter at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/kiyankassam\">@kiyankassam<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amid news of Elon Musk\u2019s desire to buy and restore free speech to Twitter, the social media company announced a new policy last Friday prohibiting all advertisements that they say<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":575,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1457700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/575"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1457700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1457700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1457700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1457700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1457700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}