The UN partners with Google to filter ‘distorted’ climate change results

During a panel on disinformation at the World Economic Forum, the United Nations’ under-secretary-general for global communications spoke about the U.N. partnering with Google on climate change.

In April, the U.N. announced it had teamed up with the tech giant to push “verified climate information.” Under-Secretary General Melissa Fleming said the move was a response to what she called “distorted information” in the top search results.

“We started this partnership when we were shocked to see that when you googled climate change, we were getting incredibly distorted information right at the top,” Fleming said.

Google is the dominant search engine of choice globally, accounting for 92% of the world’s search engine market according to StatCounter. Most users find the information they need on the first page. A 2013 study by Chitika insights found that sites listed on the first Google search results page generate 92% of all traffic from an average search. When moving from page one to two, the traffic dropped by 95% according to the data.

The U.N. says prioritizing its content will ensure that “factual, trustworthy content about climate is available to as wide a global audience as possible.” The move comes as the expanding access to rhetoric and potential misinformation online has prompted other world leaders to push for restrictions on the content people see.

“The need for accurate, science-based information on a subject like climate change has therefore never been greater,” added Fleming.

While Google does not control the content of individual websites, experts say it’s within its right as a non-government organization to filter data in compliance with the law and its own policies.

For the U.N. this partnership is an effort to help tackle the climate crisis.

Toward the end of the forum Fleming said “We are becoming much more proactive. We own the science and we think that the world should know it and the platforms themselves also do.”