This is especially true for climate disinformation on social media. On Twitter, more than a quarter of the tweets about climate change come from bots (with the vast majority of these bots spreading lies). Investigative reporting by The New York Times recently revealed a well-funded effort to create “astroturf” grassroots campaigns supporting oil companies (when the campaigns were in fact funded by energy companies).
Right-wingers have long understood that fiction can be much more persuasive than truth, and that selling their pro-pollution, anti-worker platform requires them to lie. “A compelling story, even if factually inaccurate, can be more emotionally compelling than a dry recitation of the truth,” as GOP strategist Frank Luntz advised conservatives in his infamous 2002 memo on climate messaging.
A disturbing number of the most viral stories on any given day are from far-right pseudo-news sources like The Daily Wire, Ben Shapiro’s conservative media arm, which is owned by the Wilks, a family that made billions on fracking. Republicans are outperforming Democrats in this digital echo chamber, in no small part because they use a network of big Facebook pages to cross-promote content.
Why Democrats Lose on Social Media While Republicans Lie and Win Big | The Nation
https://www.thenation.com/article/society/social-media-right-wing/