Mapping Emerging Climate Misinformation Playbooks in the Global South

2026-04-27

AI Summary

This study addresses the evolving landscape of climate misinformation, which is shifting from outright scientific denial to more insidious “neoskeptic” strategies—acknowledging climate change while opposing mitigation policies, particularly in Global South contexts like Brazil where such narratives undermine public support for climate action. Drawing on large-scale YouTube data from 2019 to 2025 and qualitative content analysis, this work systematically uncovers the discursive features, diverse actors, and heightened user engagement associated with neoskeptic content. Findings reveal that these messages predominantly target renewable energy, climate governance, and environmental advocates, exhibiting greater persuasive appeal and evading platform moderation mechanisms more effectively than traditional denialist discourse. By transcending conventional misinformation frameworks, the study offers a novel perspective on the dynamics of climate-related discourse in the digital era.

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Misinformation & Fake News
• Natural Language Processing: Fact-Checking / Misinformation Detection (NLP Focus)
• Game Theory and Economic Paradigms: Imperfect Information

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Mitigating misinformation and disinformation
• Web Mining and Content Analysis: Content-based information diffusion
• Social Networks and Social Media: Media and governance, opinion dynamics, filter bubbles, polarization

Abstract

Climate misinformation continues to erode support for climate action, a challenge that is especially acute in the Global South, where high climate vulnerability intersects with development pressures. In rapidly evolving digital ecosystems, misinformation adapts to platform incentives, shifting from overt rejection of climate science toward more subtle narratives that contest proposed solutions. This study integrates large-scale platform data with qualitative content analysis to examine how information systems shape contemporary climate discourse. Using a dataset of 226,775 climate-related YouTube videos from Brazil (2019-2025), we identify two dominant misinformation strategies: traditional denial that disputes scientific evidence and an emerging "new denial" that accepts climate change while undermining mitigation and adaptation policies. We find a pronounced transition to solution-focused narratives that target renewable energy, climate governance, and environmental advocates. New denial content is produced by a wider array of actors, attracts higher engagement, and employs more sophisticated persuasive techniques. These patterns disproportionately affect regions already facing structural inequities and bring broader concerns about platform accountability in unequal information environments and suggest the need for governance approaches capable of addressing new denial, a rapidly adapting form of harmful content that often evades existing moderation policies.

Problem

• climate misinformation
• Global South
• new denial
• climate policy
• digital platforms

Innovation

• climate misinformation
• new denial
• platform governance
• Global South
• content moderation