The Climate Denial Industry 2.0: Inside the Legal Market of Disinformation-for-Hire Firms

Revelations that British Cambridge Analytica consultants misused the data of 50 million Facebook users for politically microtargeted advertising in 2010, without obtaining informed consent regarding its purpose, outraged the global public. This has led Meta to settle legal action over a data breach, agreeing to pay $725 million, for which Cambridge Analytica initially spent nearly $1 million. 

While Cambridge Analytica scandal left many shocked, sparking outrage over data privacy violations and the unethical use of data to influence the political decisions of millions of Americans, PR and marketing firms quickly recognized a new digital gold rush — a means of monetizing citizens' free data, claiming to forecast and influence human behavior, leveraging its value to expand business models entering dynamic area of information influence. These new methods, combined with easily accessible data, created the perfect recipe for private firms to recognize the impressive potential of the emerging market, where social media platforms became arenas for influence, while citizens' data—fuel that, when leveraged effectively, could shape political and geopolitical dynamics, influencing citizens' perceptions on the important local and global issues, such as climate change.

Today, private agencies are legally enabled to provide consultancy and services that were once typically conducted by state intelligence agencies, entering the world of political and geopolitical influence campaigns. These entities, often referred to as 'disinformation-for-hire' firms, can be hired by various public and private actors to interfere in elections, spread false narratives such as 'climate change is a hoax,' promote viral conspiracy theories, fuel polarization, and erode trust in legacy media and institutions. Taking into consideration decades long efforts in disseminating climate denialist messaging, as well as the fact that nearly a quarter of the global population reported encountering false narratives concerning climate change or the environment, it is highly likely that these companies could be employed by different actors who seek to sow doubt in climate science and obstruct environmental policies. 

The main and most important asset of disinformation-for-hire firms is deniability, allowing politicians, private and state actors to avoid accountability for influence campaigns. For example, a company based in Israel could be hired by a British politician or private entity to influence public discourse on social media, not only regarding British politics and policies (e.g., environmental issues) but also on foreign matters, including global matters like climate change. This transnational legal deception costs citizens their basic right to make informed decisions aligned with their well-being, where truthful and verifiable information is omitted and replaced with disinformation, malinformation and conspiracy theories. 

Sometimes, these disinformation campaigns are directed against journalists, which are essential in providing accurate information that serves the public's best interests. Such was the case with Indian journalist Gauri Lankesh, who was shot dead in Bengaluru after putting the final touches on an article that was scheduled to be published two days later in the weekly newspaper Gauri Lankesh Patrike, following a targeted disinformation campaign per Le Monde. Targeting journalists or the messenger, when the message itself cannot be undermined, is one of the prominent tactics used by different private and public actors, often referred to as "shooting the messenger." According to Forbidden Stories, one in four journalists killed in non-conflict zones between 2017 and 2022 was the target of disinformation campaigns or received threats through social media networks leading up to their death. 

While disinformation can have serious and far-reaching consequences, a Mozilla study highlights just how cheaply it can be spread. Researchers interviewed participants in Kenya’s controversial Building Bridges Initiative (BBI) disinformation campaigns, revealing that they were paid as little as $10 to $15 a day to flood social media with hashtags via the mobile wallet app M-Pesa. This study underscores the alarming accessibility of influence campaigns and their potential to shape public opinion for mere pennies.​ Such a troubling trend is not an isolated case, an Oxford study found evidence of the global rise of organized social media manipulation campaigns, with 70 countries employing different forms of influence campaigns in 2018. The study focused on state actors or political parties' use of social media to manipulate public opinion. In 45 out of the 70 countries analyzed, the study found evidence of political parties or politicians running for office who had used the tools and techniques of computational propaganda during elections. The report states that an important feature of the organization of influence campaigns is that cyber troops often work in cooperation with private industry, Internet subcultures, youth groups, hacker collectives, fringe movements, social media influencers, and volunteers who ideologically support their cause. The study found that 75% of countries used disinformation and media manipulation to mislead users, 68% engaged in state-sponsored trolling targeting political dissidents, opposition members, or journalists, and 73% amplified messages by flooding hashtags.

These findings correspond to the five main strategies cyber troops employ: creating disinformation or manipulated media, mass-reporting content or accounts, using data-driven tactics, engaging in trolling, doxing, and harassment, and amplifying content online. Among these tactics, content creation was the most prevalent, with cyber troops in 52 of 70 countries producing deceptive materials such as fake news sites, videos, and viral memes to mislead the public.​

The rise of disinformation-for-hire firms and the legality of using them to influence public opinion raise significant concerns about how these firms may be used to spread climate change denialist messaging and misleading narratives. These tactics could be used to obstruct environmental policies, sow doubt in scientific research, institutions, and the media. While the usage of disinformation-for-hire firms within climate discourses is often difficult to track and expose, awareness of their existence is significant. By staying vigilant and equipping yourself with media and digital literacy tools, one could make more informed decisions and reduce the impact of climate denialist deception, potentially driven by actors who could employ disinformation-for-hire firms.