It’s like this massive, popular kid in school, TikTok, who everyone looks up to for cool videos and trendy challenges, has been telling everyone they’re super serious about saving the planet. They’ve been shouting from the rooftops about going green, fighting climate change misinformation, and only promoting sustainable stuff. But then, quietly, they went and sponsored a party for a bunch of people who think global warming is a hoax – people who argue we need more fossil fuels and that environmental concerns are just “eco-extremism.”
This happened just recently in Ottawa, Canada, at a gathering for a conservative group called the Canada Strong and Free Network. Imagine TikTok, with all its talk about sustainability, rubbing shoulders with folks like former Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a Canadian politician who thinks building an oil pipeline is practically a religious act. One of the speakers, Danielle Smith, even said that not using fossil fuels in her province would effectively lead to people dying. This kind of talk is a direct slap in the face to everything TikTok claims to stand for. Experts are calling it “greenwashing” – basically, putting on a show of being environmentally friendly while secretly doing things that are totally the opposite. One advertising whiz, Polina Zabrodskaya, hit the nail on the head, saying TikTok is just trying to protect its bottom line. They don’t want to anger the climate warriors, but they also don’t want to alienate the fossil fuel crowd. So, they try to play both sides, sponsoring conferences that deny climate change while simultaneously sitting on sustainability committees.
It’s particularly baffling because TikTok has a monumental reach, with over a billion users globally, and it’s become a huge platform for climate-related content. Millions and billions of views go to videos with hashtags like #ClimateChange and #SustainableLiving. They even have strict rules against denying climate change, misrepresenting scientific facts, or downplaying its severity on their platform. You’d think those rules would apply to them, too. But apparently not. At this same conference, a long-time climate denier and gas industry lobbyist, Timothy Egan, spewed rhetoric about “radical environmentalism” and how it sees humanity as parasitic. Another presenter, who’d advised an Azerbaijani oil company, suggested journalists reporting on climate extreme weather are paid shills and questioned whether Canadians wanted their government serving “elites at Davos” or “working people.”
And who were TikTok’s co-sponsors at this climate-denying shindig? None other than Koch Industries, a giant in the oil industry notorious for funding climate denial, along with other tech titans like Meta and Uber, and groups specifically created to question climate change, like the Climate Discussion Nexus and the Modern Miracle Network, which literally promotes the “miracle of modern hydrocarbons.” It’s like the popular kid at school is hanging out with the bullies after dark, even after telling everyone they’re against bullying. Someone from the Climate Action Against Disinformation coalition, Philip Newell, put it bluntly: TikTok has completely abandoned its supposed commitment to acting responsibly with climate information. He even hinted that the platform’s algorithms might be rigged, given past research showing TikTok favoring right-wing content in elections from the US to Europe.
This whole situation is made even more complex by TikTok’s recent corporate maneuvers. Just months ago, they struck a deal to create a US entity with American co-owners, like Oracle, partly to avoid a ban over concerns about China accessing American user data. Oracle, owned by a longtime Trump ally, now has control over which videos Americans see on TikTok. Shortly after this deal, some users claimed the platform started suppressing anti-Trump content, with reports of videos being blocked and even specific words, like “Epstein,” being censored. It paints a picture of a company whose priorities seem to shift based on business and political pressures, rather than a consistent dedication to its stated values.
Adding insult to injury, TikTok is not a particularly eco-friendly platform itself. Despite its massive sustainability claims, its carbon footprint is actually larger than many other social media giants, even with fewer users. One estimate even suggested its emissions are likely greater than an entire country, Greece! And despite its “stringent” climate misinformation policy, an investigation by the BBC found that TikTok has a terrible track record of enforcing it. Only a tiny fraction of climate misinformation videos were removed, despite millions of views. So, while TikTok is making grand gestures about donating millions to fight climate misinformation and joining global advertising campaigns to decarbonize and promote sustainable products, their actions seem to tell a very different story. It’s a classic case of talking the talk, but definitely not walking the walk, especially when there’s an opportunity to protect profits or appease certain political factions. It seems, as Newell concluded, TikTok will say anything to avoid being held accountable for spreading harmful lies on an unprecedented scale.