TikTok has a climate change denialism problem, a new report finds (exclusive)

World leaders gathered last month at COP29 in Azerbaijan to discuss how best to tackle climate change. But on TikTok, climate change misinformation posted around that same time went unchecked by the company’s moderation team, according to a new report by Global Witness, an international NGO.

Videos posted during COP29 by some of the U.K.’s biggest media outlets, including the BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 News were analyzed by Global Witness, which focused on the debates going on in the videos’ comment sections. (The videos were seen by more than three million people.)

Global Witness found comments that alleged there is “no such thing” as climate change, that the warming of our planet is a “hoax” and a “made-up lie,” and that it’s not man-made or a result of human activity. All of those comments would breach TikTok’s guidelines on climate misinformation, which the company proudly touted a year ago prior to the COP28 climate summit. The blog post TikTok published in November 2023 explains: “Our policies prohibit 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.”

Global Witness climate disinformation investigator Ellen Judson, who led the study, says that TikTok ought to be “commended” for being one of the rare social networks to have enacted a firm climate change policy. Yet when Global Witness reported 20 of those comments to TikTok using the app’s own in-app reporting tool, 19 of them were allowed to remain on videos because content moderators said they had not infringed the app’s terms of service. (Once Global Witness approached TikTok with its findings via the company’s press office, the app eventually took action against all the infringing comments.)

COP29 was chosen as a useful time to investigate how TikTok would respond to climate denial on its platform. “We thought users might be more likely to be seeking out information,” she says. “It can be a bit complicated, all the different climate policies and this, that, and the other.”

Some may suggest that the content of comments alongside videos doesn’t matter as much as the content of the videos themselves—all of which come from reputable news organizations and don’t dabble in climate change misinformation. But Global Witness points to TikTok’s own data showing that the comment sections on videos are an integral part of the app’s experience. Worldwide, 77% of TikTok users say they read comments on TikTok—something Global Witness suggests means they could be used to sway opinions.

An unnamed employee in TikTok’s content moderation team told Global Witness that the issue was emblematic of a broader issue around climate change at TikTok. “There are symbolic gestures towards a general idea of ‘doing our part against climate change’ but nothing substantial, nothing of real consequence,” they said.

The NGO claims that the issue highlights problems TikTok will continue to face as it replaces elements of its human moderation team with automated systems. At least a quarter of its 500-strong U.K. content moderation team was told they were at risk of layoffs in October, according to The Bureau for Investigative Journalism (TBIJ). Those redundancies “allow us to further leverage advanced technology for greater accuracy, consistency, and scalability,” a company email seen by TBIJ announcing the plans for layoffs said.

This is not the first time TikTok has failed to address climate misinformation on the app. A June 2023 BBC investigation found that—similar to its proportion of taking action against infringing comments here—TikTok only removed around 5% of content that violated its own guidelines when informed.

TikTok did not respond to Fast Company’s request for comment.

Judson says she would like to see changes to how TikTok—and other social platforms—operate. “I think increased transparency and public accountability around why certain effects are happening and what they’re doing in response specifically would be lovely,” she says.