The social media giant is struggling to contain posts that spread climate denial, according to several new studies.

A “staggering” amount of misinformation about climate change is spreading rapidly and unchecked on Facebook. The social media giant is struggling to contain posts that spread climate denial, according to several new studies.

In a new report, an independent watchdog group, the Real Facebook Oversight Board and an environmental NGO Stop Funding Heat have revealed that over 45,000 Facebook posts that deny climate change or downplay its impacts have received over a million engagement on the platform.

While another study released by the Center for Countering Digital Hate and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue has shown that Facebook has failed to take down posts spreading misinformation about climate change, with less than 10 percent of the posts containing misinformation being labelled as such.

“Facebook is the Big Tobacco of our generation, greenwashing to avoid responsibility and sewing confusion and doubt about climate change in the global conversation,” Real Facebook Oversight Board told the Verge.

Researchers from the Real Facebook Oversight Board analysed over 195 Facebook pages and groups, along with the company’s advertising platform. They found over 113 ads that pushed climate change denial. More than 75 percent of which were promoted by seven Facebook pages.

After increasingly backlash from activists, Facebook launched a new initiative to combat climate misinformation by sharing factual information, quizzes and videos about climate change, called the “Climate Change Center. However, it has been criticized by environmental activists has meagre efforts and have been asking for the company to stop the spread of misinformation.

The new report comes amid the COP26 climate conference underway in Glasgow, Scotland, and a week after Facebook rebranded itself as “Meta”. In the last few months, the company has come under increased scrutiny as leaked internal company documents revealed the company’s inability to stop the spread of harmful content as well as prioritising profits over social wellbeing.