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How to fight climate change misinformation

Feb. 5, 2025

Misinformation is a proven danger — and it poses a serious threat to the public support that’s needed to solve the climate crisis. But misinformation can be hard to spot, and even more difficult to report and correct.

This how-to guide shares tips and tools for fighting climate misinformation, plus step-by-step instructions for identifying misinformation and reporting it on social media platforms.

The top 5 ways you can fight climate change myths

  1. Ignore conspiracy theories on the Internet. Don’t give them more life by sharing them and spreading them further.
  2. Don’t repeat the lie. If you want to address a false claim, don’t repeat the lie itself, which can actually end up amplifying it.
  3. Make a “truth sandwich.” Combat myths with the truth, then correct the lie without repeating it, and finish with more truth.
  4. Don’t use partisan language or sources. They can cause people to tune out completely, which is the opposite of winning.
  5. Speak up. Use credible sources and scientific studies to contradict the lies with facts.

How to identify a suspicious post

If something catches your eye that doesn’t seem quite right — especially articles or posts that provoke strong emotions like anger or fear — run through this list of questions before sharing it online:

  • Do you recognize the source? Does it reference one that you can easily find?
  • Does the information in the post seem believable?
  • Is it written in the style you’d expect from a professional news organization?

How to verify articles and social media posts

If you answered no to any of the questions above, you can use any of these sites to double-check the facts:

  • Science Feedback is a worldwide network of scientists sorting fact from fiction in climate change and other media coverage.
  • PolitiFact is part of the nonprofit Poynter Institute, focused on politics.
  • Fact Checker is run by the award-winning, fact-checking team at the Washington Post.
  • Snopes.com is one of the oldest and largest fact-checking sites online.
  • Lead Stories’ co-founders included a registered Independent and a registered Republican, so it might be more trustworthy for conservatives.

How to report misinformation on social media

Here are instructions for getting social networks to take notice of misinformation:

Reporting misinformation on Facebook, Instagram and Threads

Meta-owned social media sites Facebook, Instagram and Threads are shifting away from professional fact-checking to a “Community Notes” model similar to the one used on X, starting in the United States. (X’s approach relies on X contributors to collaboratively add context to potentially misleading posts.) We will update this webpage with additional information soon.

Reporting misinformation on YouTube

Step-by-step instructions (using YouTube from the U.S.):

1. Click on the three dots in the bottom right-hand corner, below the video, next to the “thumbs up”/“thumbs down” icons and the share function.

2. From the list that appears, click on “Report.”

3. Choose “misinformation” in the dropdown list. At the bottom right-hand corner, click “Next.”

4. Here you can ask YouTube to do more to combat climate misinformation. Suggested text you can use: “Please detox your algorithm, add ‘climate misinformation’ to your borderline-content policy and correct the record by working with independent fact-checkers to inform users who have seen or interacted with this video.”

Reporting misinformation on X, formerly known as Twitter

X has removed a feature that previously allowed users to report misinformation directly. X now has a community-driven content moderation program known as “Community Notes.” These notes add context (such as fact-checking) under a post.

If you have an X account that’s at least six months old, with a verified phone number and no recent violations of X’s rules, you can sign up to be a contributor who can submit notes on misleading posts, and vote on what notes will be publicly appended to a misleading post.

Another easy way to help