The storm of climate disinformation

For the past few months Canadians have been banned from sharing news articles on Facebook and Instagram, places where many people turned to for information.

This is a direct result of the ban Meta, Facebook and Instagram's parent company, imposed on Canadian news outlets this past summer. Enacted in response to a new federal law designed to force social media companies to pay for news, Meta's ban has fueled a media environment where disinformation can run rampant.

As a reporter covering climate disinformation, I knew the ban would only exacerbate the problem of false or misleading information.

A few months back, I wrote a story about how Facebook was helping far-right leaders of last year's Freedom Convoy spread disinformation about wildfires ravaging Alberta. Local authorities were so exasperated by the problem Yellowhead County mayor Wade Williams implored residents to "take Facebook and throw that thing in the garbage."

The problems continued as the summer of fire wore on. Across the country, authorities battled disinformation alongside the fires, with the problem only getting worse after the news ban. In Yellowknife for example, evacuees said the city-wide evacuation was made more dangerous because of Meta's news ban.

Still, the disinformation problem is not limited to wildfires or Facebook. This fall, I reported on a group of conspiracy-fueled activists organizing to block and reverse local B.C. governments' climate efforts. This story came alongside my investigations into the massive push by utilities like FortisBC – the province's gas supplier – to greenwash gas in a bid to entrench itself in B.C.'s energy future, or efforts by a new "green" company to sell shady carbon offset credits to Trans-Mountain Corporation.

Experts agree disinformation is among the largest threats to effective climate action, but few reporters in the country have the time and resources to cover the issue. With support from Canada's National Observer, I'm able to carve time out from my other reporting on food systems, pesticides and plastics to investigate the plague of Canadian climate disinfo.

I would deeply appreciate your financial support in helping me and my colleagues continue this vital work and dig deeper into climate disinformation over the coming months. Will you fuel my work and make a donation to CNO's year-end fundraising campaign today?

Marc Fawcett-Atkinson

Reporter