TORONTO -- claims YouTube is promoting 鈥渃limate change denier鈥� videos, allegations the popular website is disputing.
The report, published by left-leaning online advocacy group Avaaz, claims YouTube is promoting and monetizing videos that spread misinformation on climate change. The organization says it analyzed over 5,000 videos by searching for key terms like 鈥渃limate change鈥� and 鈥済lobal warming鈥� to find the top-related videos.
In the report, which was published Thursday, Avaaz states videos titled 鈥淲hat they haven鈥檛 told you about climate change鈥� and 鈥淭he truth about global warming鈥� were among the top hits.
Avaaz also analyzed the ads running on these videos, which contain advertisements from big brands like Uber, L鈥橭real, Lionsgate and Nintendo.
鈥淚n total, Avaaz was able to identify 108 brands running ads on these climate misinformation videos. One in five of the ads shown were from green or ethical brands as well as public entities, such as Greenpeace International, WWF [World Wildlife Fund],鈥� the report said.
In a statement to CTVNews.ca, a spokesperson for YouTube Canada indicated that the company鈥檚 recommendations system is not programed by opinions.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 speak to Avaaz鈥檚 methodology or results, and our recommendations systems are not designed to filter or demote videos or channels based on specific perspectives,鈥� the statement read.
In relation to the ads, YouTube states advertisers have the option to opt out of videos that don鈥檛 align with their brand.
YouTube started a in January 2019 that would promote 鈥渁uthoritative sources鈥� such as news organizations to 鈥減rovide users with context alongside their content.鈥�
Avaaz is calling for YouTube to enforce stricter rules when users upload misleading content.
鈥淭o ensure that YouTube is no longer amplifying dangerous content, the platform should extract all videos known to be misinformation from its algorithms, starting immediately with climate denial and climate misinformation videos,鈥� Avaaz said in its report.
