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The Global Witness report Toxic Platforms, Broken Planet exposes how major social media companies are fuelling climate disinformation, online abuse, and threats against environmental defenders while failing to enforce their own rules. It shows that platforms such as Meta, X/Twitter, YouTube and TikTok approve violent hate speech ads, profit from climate denial content, and enable bot-driven disinformation campaigns, undermining democratic debate and climate action.
The report links these failures to the criminalisation and harassment of climate activists globally, with governments and corporations using digital threats to silence opposition. Women, Indigenous people, and LGBTQ communities are disproportionately targeted with violent abuse, making online spaces unsafe for those on the frontline of environmental defence.
Despite new regulations like the EU’s Digital Services Act, tech giants remain largely unaccountable, conducting poor risk assessments and prioritising profits from harmful content. The report argues that without stronger oversight, these platforms will continue to entrench misinformation, erode trust, and endanger human rights.
Global Witness calls for regulators to enforce transparency, impose penalties for repeated failures, and ensure platforms invest in safety across languages and regions. It concludes that tackling digital threats is essential to safeguarding democracy, protecting climate defenders, and enabling a just transition to a sustainable future.
