Sarah Bromma, Head of Policy at Pinterest, joins Cheddar News to discuss the platform's new climate misinformation policy. 

Between Bells

Pinterest Unveils New Climate Misinformation Policy

and between bells back everyone on this friday i baker machado and it's Earth Day and unlike past years, there's a renewed sense of importance on this day as each year were seemingly digging ourselves deeper and deeper into a hole called climate change. One of the biggest ways that they can social media platform, Pinterest has announced a new policy on climate misinformation, There's no doubt a crucial step forward in combating climate change and also saving the world at the same time. So joining us now to discuss is Sarah brome ahead of policy over at Pinterest. Sara. Such a pleasure to have you here. Happy birthday to you now, according to you guys, this policy makes Pinterest the only major digital platform right now to have clearly defined guidelines when it comes to false or misleading climate change misinformation here, so explain some of these guidelines here and what prompted you guys to do this. Yeah, thank you so much baker for having us here on Earth Day to talk about this policy update. Um you know, at Pinterest, we believe in a more inspired internet um and that means we really need to be deliberate about cultivating a positive and inspiring environment online. Um and we know pictures are coming to Pinterest to search for ideas to incorporate sustainability into their lifestyle. Um so for example, searches for zero waste tips are up six times from last year and searches for recycling, closed ideas are up four times. Um and so it's really important for us that painters can come to Pinterest to find trusted and truthful content to help inform the decisions they're making in their everyday lives. Um and of course we we care about building a healthy planet. Um and we've heard from climate scientists and climate experts that climate misinformation can really impede efforts to build a healthy planet. It's causing real harm in the fight against climate change. Um so we were really excited to make this policy update. Um it's another step in interest journey to combat harmful misinformation. Um and, you know, work towards building a more safe and inspiring um space online. Um and we really wanted to ground the policy and these narratives that we heard from climate experts, those common misinformation narratives that they were seeing online. Um and those are things like climate change is not real, that it's not caused by humans that scientifically backed climate solutions aren't going to work and that climate scientists aren't reliable. Um and that climate change is not is not an urgent issue. Um and so we really wanted to ground the policy um in those narratives that we heard from these experts. And by the way, you guys are also doing this with your ads as well. I mean, you guys have now updated your advertising guidelines as a result of this to explicitly prohibit any ads that contain conspiracy theories, misinformation and disinformation when it comes to climate change here. Were there any challenges, Sarah implementing this policy or getting this policy essentially off the ground here. You know, we were again, we really wanted to make sure that the policy was comprehensive. We didn't want to have any spaces on Pinterest where people could still share this information. Um, as with all of our policies, we don't allow any exceptions. Right? So politicians or advertisers, celebrities, normal pinter's, everyone has to follow the same rules. Um so it's really important to make sure that this policy was comprehensive across all content that the pitcher might come across on Pinterest. Um and actually, you know, we've we've found that there's a really positive reception. I think a lot of users, the public, even advertisers and brands are really looking to platforms to take a responsible approach to misinformation um including climate misinformation. Um so I think, you know, climate change or misinformation is really hard issue to tackle. It really takes a whole ecosystem. Um and so we're going to keep engaging with climate experts, make sure that we're staying on top of common narratives are emerging trends that they're seeing. Um and we'll keep evaluating our policies and enforcement approaches truly, make sure that their best serving our mission and our sharpeners. Was there any concern, Sara, that this could negatively impact advertising sales? Because your your social cohorts obviously that's a concern of theirs as well, which is probably probably one of the reasons why they're not tamping down on misinformation as much. Was there a worry that this would impact ad sales at all. You know, actually, no, we were really seeing that brands coalitions, industry groups were actually looking to platforms to make these types of responsible moves. Um We were hearing a lot from from brands and advertisers that they really want people to take a strong position on misinformation. Advertisers don't want their content running alongside harmful misinformation and that includes climate misinformation. Um So we're actually seeing a really positive reception from advertisers who really want their content to show up in positive and inspiring places. And as I mentioned earlier now, because of this new policy Sarah Pinterest is now the only major digital platform to have clearly defined guidelines when it comes to misinformation about climate change is the goal also then to push all their social media companies to sort of adapt a similar policy here because you're already doing it here. Yeah. You know, we're really proud that we've been an early mover on misinformation, not just climate misinformation, but we actually first developed a misinformation policy back in 2017 um at the time was focused on health misinformation. Um and we've expanded our misinformation policy several times since again in that goal of making sure that we're inspired, having an inspiring, safe and positive environment on Pinterest for planners for advertisers and others. Um And so yeah, we're proud that we have taken this industry leading position. Um we do hope others do follow us in this. Um but for us it was a really important move and kind of the next step again in our in our journey to combat harmful misinformation online. And you had said earlier, by the way, a lot of searches on Pinterest already up when it comes to climate interest. Anyway, searches for zero waste tips up, 6% recycled clothing ideas up 4% so already or are you getting more data to sort of indicate Pinterest users are really fascinated and interested with what's going on in the climate crisis. Yeah, exactly. And you talked about this in an earlier segment with some of the creators that they're they're coming online to to share their ideas around sustainability. Um and we're seeing that as well on Pinterest, like you mentioned, those searches are up um huge percentages from last year. Um and and as with all all of our approaches to misinformation, we don't want to just take down the bad content, the harmful misinformation. We're actually looking to elevate um you know, expert and authoritative content ideas for how people can incorporate sustainability into their lifestyle. So we've launched a creator's content original series where creators from around the world are actually gonna be sharing ideas on how to incorporate sustainability in your everyday lives. We've curated boards with ideas on living sustainably and how to incorporate sustainability into your life. Um So not just taking down the harmful misinformation again, but really elevating that content so people can find those trusted and truthful ideas. Well I'm I speak, I know for a lot of people, I'm very happy that you guys are doing this. Sarah brahma is the head of policy over at Pinterest. Thank you so much Sarah for joining us.