Twitter launches ‘pre-bunks’ to promote credible and scientific information on climate change

Twitter is one of the tech companies that partnered with the ongoing 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26). Among several features launched this week, the company also announced a new program called “pre-bunks” that will serve as a center for credible information on climate change.

The social media giant announced on Monday several features in support of the ongoing COP26 with events happening in Glasgow, Scotland, and the United Kingdom through Nov. 12. Twitter introduced a dedicated event page and the official hashtag #COP26 with its very own emoji so users can easily find tweets about the conference.

Twitter also rolled out a program called “pre-bunks” that would be available even after the event. The company described it as hubs of credible information on climate change that can be found on the platform’s Explore tab, Search, and Trends sections. “These pre-bunks will surface reliable, factual context across a range of key themes, like the science backing climate change and global warming realities,” Twitter added.

The company also recalled the launch of the dedicated climate change Topics on Twitter earlier this year. It is another venue where users can easily find tweets from environmental organizations, activists, and other personalities about climate change.

Meanwhile, Twitter has also reiterated its commitment to “significantly” reduce its greenhouse emissions by 2030. Twitter added that it had increased its efforts to use power sources that are 100 percent carbon-neutral for its data centers by the end of next year.

In recent years, social media platforms have, unfortunately, provided a venue for the spread of misinformation on critical issues, such as climate change, global warming, and even COVID-19 vaccines. Users and organizations have called on companies like Twitter to implement changes that would crackdown or counter misleading posts. But major tech companies have yet to keep up.

However, Twitter and other tech companies have launched efforts to warn users about potentially misleading posts. Last August, Twitter started testing a feature that would allow users to report tweets that they deem misleading. Last month, Google announced that it would prohibit ads and monetization on YouTube content that “contradicts well-established scientific consensus around the existence and causes of climate change,” including those that call climate change a hoax or a scam.

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