Aug 06, 2021 19:00:00

Report that oil-related companies are posting advertisements on Facebook saying that 'oil and natural gas can also be a measure against global warming'

Influence Map , a think tank specializing in climate change, said , 'Oil companies such as ExxonMobil and the American Petroleum Institute are promoting scientifically false information on Facebook that'oil and natural gas are also effective for global warming.'' I reported. Facebook has officially announced its support for climate change, but oil companies are trying to prevent them from leaving the oil industry by launching a number of ads.

influencemap.org Climate Change and Digital Advertising --The Oil & Gas Industry's Digital Advertising Strategy
https://influencemap.org/EN/report/Climate-Change-and-Digital-Advertising-a40c8116160668aa2d865da2f5abe91b

Facebook let fossil-fuel industry push climate misinformation, report finds | Climate change | The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/aug/05/facebook-fossil-fuel-industry-environment-climate-change

Oil Producers Used Facebook to Counter Biden's Clean Energy Message --The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/05/climate/oil-facebook-ads-biden.html

Advertising on Facebook, which has 2.7 billion monthly active users as of July 30, 2021, is one way to send a message to a very large number of people. According to a new report released by Influence Map, oil companies spent $ 9,957,376 on Facebook in 2020. There are 25,147 types of advertisements posted, and the total number of views reaches 431 million.

The problem with advertisements launched by oil-related companies is that many of them include the message that 'oil and natural gas are one of the solutions to climate change.' According to InfluenceMap, 48% of all advertisements include 'the oil and gas industry is one of the solutions to climate change' and 'the oil and industry are promoting clean efforts to address climate change'. 31% of the total includes the content that 'oil and natural gas contribute to people's lives as an energy source', and the content that 'the oil and natural gas industry contributes to the local community and the economy as a whole' Approximately 22% of the total included, and 12% of the total included the content that 'oil and natural gas contribute to energy independence in the United States and are important for taking global leadership in energy.'

As for the offensive of oil-related companies against Facebook's advertising business, Joe Biden (at that time) said, 'We will spend $ 2 trillion (about 214 trillion yen) on climate change countermeasures in four years' before the US presidential election in 2020. The announcement made it intensified. The following is the transition of 'advertising expenses invested by oil-related companies on Facebook' created by Influence Map. The 'Biden releases $ 2T climate plan' has shown a surge in advertising spending. Advertising costs have plummeted since the US 2020 Election, as Facebook has banned political advertising.

ExxonMobil, the largest oil major, ranked first in the ranking of advertising expenses invested on Facebook at $ 5,046,642 (about 535 million yen).

Second place is the American Petroleum Institute , an industry group related to oil and natural gas, for $ 2,965,254, which shows that these two account for the majority of Facebook's oil-related advertisements.

InfluenceMap claims that Facebook was displaying misleading ads about the impact of oil on climate change, despite official support for climate change. Also points out that Facebook's policy on climate change advertising is inconsistent.