A new analysis released Thursday by the environmental group Friends of the Earth shows that Facebook is continuing to allow thoroughly debunked climate lies to run rampant on its platform, despite the tech giant’s frequent public pledges to combat disinformation. To demonstrate the extent of Facebook’s failure, Friends of the Earth conducted a case study of posts related to the widespread power outages in Texas that followed a devastating winter storm in February. The group found that Facebook appended fact-check labels to just 0.9% of interactions with high-performing posts spreading the false narrative that wind energy—not the state’s overwhelming reliance on fossil fuels—was to blame for the Texas power outages. That claim was quickly seized upon by Texas Republicans and right-wing media outlets, which used their Facebook pages to perpetuate the lie.
— source commondreams.org | Sep 16, 2021