Study: Climate Denial Correlated with Vaccine Denial

That tracks.

University of Michigan:

The study found that 14.8% of Americans deny that climate change is real, which is consistent with previous national studies, and also identified the demographic and geographic groups where denialism persists. Analysis of the geocoded tweets revealed that belief in climate change is highest along the West and East Coasts, and that denialism is highest in the Central and Southern parts of the country, with more than 20% of the populations of Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama and North Dakota consisting of people who do not believe in climate change. 

The researchers also revealed that belief in climate change can vary substantially within states. For example, in California, where less than 12% of the population does not believe in climate change, one particular county, Shasta County, had climate change denial rates as high as 52%. Similarly, the average percentage of deniers in Texas is 21%, but at the county level, this ranges from 13% in Travis County to 67% in Hockley County.

The findings show that political affiliation plays the most influential role in determining whether a person believes in climate change or not, with a high percentage of Republican voters having the strongest correlation with climate change deniers. In addition, the researchers saw a strong connection between climate change denialism and low COVID-19 vaccination rates, indicating a broad skepticism of science. Other variables that they found to influence climate change opinion include level of education, income and the degree to which the regional economy is reliant on fossil fuels to produce energy.

USAToday:

Social media is still not doing enough to stop misinformation denying the existence and causes of climate change. 

That’s the finding of a review of climate-related conversations on social media platforms by the public interest research organization Advance Democracy.

Despite company pledges to crack down, falsehoods, hoaxes and conspiracy theories circulated with few warning labels or links to credible information in 2023, contributing to a dramatic surge in the number of posts denying climate change last year, according to the report shared exclusively with USA TODAY.

Nowhere was that surge more evident than on X, formerly Twitter, where the number of posts containing terms linked to climate change denial more than tripled for the second year in a row, Advance Democracy found. 

Advance Democracy saw a significant increase in posts that dismiss climate change as an exaggeration or a hoax on Facebook.

Of the 10 Facebook posts with the most interactions, eight either denied climate change or promoted conspiracy theories. None included a link to Facebook’s Climate Science Information Center or a fact check.

TikTok also failed to rein in falsehoods. Even after the short-form video platform adopted a policy prohibiting climate misinformation last year, videos that deny or downplay climate change were viewed millions of times on the app.

Advance Democracy says that in its review only YouTube has improved. Eight of nine specific climate change denial phrases identified in Advance Democracy’s 2022 report are now accompanied by scientific information on climate change on the platform.

“When it comes to misinformation about climate change, YouTube’s systems work to raise up content from high-quality sources in search results and recommendations,” YouTube said in a statement to USA TODAY, adding that it strives to “connect viewers to additional context from third parties like the United Nations.”
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After years of building robust content moderation systems, social media companies facing political pressure and economic headwinds have pulled back on gatekeeping, part of an industry trend that some fear could roll back safeguards that clamp down on misinformation.

X has not changed its official policy on climate change misinformation under the new ownership of Elon Musk, who took over the platform in October 2022. But Musk has gutted the platform’s content moderation operations and slashed staff responsible for monitoring misinformation.