Research/Study
On Facebook, misleading coverage of California's energy woes overshadowed extreme climate-driven heat
Just 1 post out of the top 100 linked climate change to the heat wave
Published
The West Coast is facing an unprecedented September heat wave which, according to The Washington Post, has set hundreds of all-time temperature records, as well as records for the month of September, in addition to putting a major strain on the energy grid. Scientists agree that climate change is a key driver of increasingly extreme heat events in the West. On Facebook, however, the most popular posts covering the heat wave completely ignored the root of the problem.
California narrowly avoided rolling blackouts, in part due to Flex Alerts that advised residents to avoid engaging in high-energy activities such as charging their electric vehicles during peak energy demand. Just a few days before the onset of the prolonged heat wave, on August 25, California’s Air Resources Board voted to ban the purchase of new gas-powered cars by 2035 in an effort to promote the adoption of electric vehicles. Instead of acknowledging that an energy transition is essential to mitigating extreme heat in the future, that burning fossil fuels is driving climate change in the first place, and that this is placing unprecedented demand on energy grids, right-wing Facebook pages shifted the focus to mocking policies intended to accelerate the switch to renewable energy and cleaner technology such as electric vehicles.
Media Matters found that right-leaning political pages created the most posts about the heat wave over its duration compared to ideologically nonaligned and left-leaning pages and these posts also received the vast majority of likes, comments, and shares.
For this study, Media Matters looked at top political Facebook pages from August 31, 2022, through September 6, 2022. We identified the 100 Facebook posts with the most interactions that contained keywords related to California’s heat wave and grid challenges.
Key findings:
- Out of the top 100 posts, 65% of posts with keywords related to the heat wave and/or energy grid challenges came from right-leaning pages.
- Nearly 87% of interactions came from these posts.
- Nine of the top 10 posts with the most interactions came from right-leaning pages, and these posts received about 61% of all interactions.
- Just one of the 100 posts, from The New York Times, mentioned climate change, receiving .25% of total interactions.
The sweltering weather in California put a massive strain on the state’s power grid, which struggled to keep up with surging demand as residents turned to air conditioning to stay cool. To help save energy and avoid the need to implement planned or rolling blackouts, California’s Independent System Operator urged Californians to pitch in and help voluntarily cut their energy usage through Flex Alerts. These alerts, which began on August 31, strongly suggested avoiding using major appliances and completing other energy-intensive tasks such as charging electric vehicles as well as keeping thermostats at 78 degrees between 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. However, many high-engagement posts Media Matters examined from right-leaning pages skewed this reality by omitting important details, suggesting that these requests were mandatory and not voluntary and that they applied at all times and not just during a short time frame in the evenings. From these false assumptions, pages tried to imply that California’s cutting-edge environmental goals are ineffective and disruptive.