This announcement comes as TikTok looks to celebrate Earth Day 2023, which was yesterday, April 20th, and “Earth Month” as a whole.
In a press release published on the 19th, TikTok said that they would be ridding their platform of content they deem to be pushing climate change denialism, employing the use of “independent fact checkers,” and will rather algorithmically hype up videos that call for green agendas and sustainability.
Trust and authenticity fuel the creativity of TikTok—and we believe we have an important role to play in empowering informed climate discussions on our platform. This week, we are introducing several initiatives that will help reduce harmful climate change misinformation while elevating authoritative information year-round.
On April 21, we will begin to ramp up enforcement of a new climate change misinformation policy which removes climate change misinformation that undermines well-established scientific consensus, such as content denying the existence of climate change or the factors that contribute to it. As we do for all misinformation policies, we will work with independent fact-checking partners when applying this policy to help assess the accuracy of content.
Digging deeper into their “misinformation policy,” TikTok declares that “conspiracy theories,” which they say “are beliefs about unexplained events or involve rejecting generally accepted explanations for events and suggesting they were carried out by covert or powerful groups.”
Also considered misinformation include the following:
- Misinformation that poses a risk to public safety or may induce panic about a crisis event or emergency, including using historical footage of a previous attack as if it were current, or incorrectly claiming a basic necessity (such as food or water) is no longer available in a particular location
- Medical misinformation, such as misleading statements about vaccines, inaccurate medical advice that discourages people from getting appropriate medical care for a life-threatening disease, and other misinformation that poses a risk to public health
- Climate change misinformation that undermines well-established scientific consensus, such as denying the existence of climate change or the factors that contribute to it
- Dangerous conspiracy theories that are violent or hateful, such as making a violent call to action, having links to previous violence, denying well-documented violent events, and causing prejudice towards a group with a protected attribute
- Specific conspiracy theories that name and attack individual people
- Material that has been edited, spliced, or combined (such as video and audio) in a way that may mislead a person about real-world events
FYF ineligible
- General conspiracy theories that are unfounded and claim that certain events or situations are carried out by covert or powerful groups, such as “the government” or a “secret society”
- Unverified information related to an emergency or unfolding event where the details are still emerging
- Potential high-harm misinformation while it is undergoing a fact-checking review
This is not the first time TikTok has actively buried and deleted content for failing to meet their growing list of things considered “misinformation.”
Last year Melissa Fleming, the Under-Secretary General for Global Communications at the United Nations, explained at a forum that the UN utilized the strategy to “deploy influencers” that had large followings to push their message, to help sell Covid-19 messaging and propaganda. She also revealed that they worked directly with TikTok to artificially push coverage for “scientist” influencers.
She said:
We had another trusted messenger project which was called Team Halo, where we trained scientists around the world and some doctors on Tik-Tok, and we had Tik-Tok working with us,
And these scientists who virtually had no following to start with, got ‘verified ticks.’ They started bringing people in their community into their labs, into their offices, and answering their questions and engaging with them.
It really took off, and many of them became like national media go-to advisors. […] So it was a layered deployment of ideas and tactics […]
People need to be inoculated themselves, and I think social media took off so quickly, that, I think people of all ages are very ill-equipped, especially in times of crisis when they’re feeling very engaged with what’s out there, and searching, and wanting to help, and wanting to share – really learning actually how to spot mis and disinformation, and how not to be part of the problem.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful witness speaketh lies.
Proverbs 14:25
Once again everywhere we turn our speech is being shut out, and nonsense and lies are being inserted instead.
TikTok of course has been the brunt of American politicians trying to use and pass the censorship of TikTok, apart of a much larger covert censorship and draconian overreach operation. TikTok, though it has it’s silly misinformation clauses, was still a platform where a lot of “inconvenient truths,” shall we say, were able to flyby under the radar and has allowed more people to be exposed to the truth of the corruption and villainy in the world today. Perhaps this is one of the real reasons why the U.S. government is going after TikTok…
[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).
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