Month: August 2021

Pro-fossil fuel ads were viewed more than 431 million times last year on Facebook's US platforms

A thinktank has accused Facebook of allowing big oil companies to use the platform to spread fossil fuel propaganda.

According to a new study [pdf] by climate-focused thinktank InfluenceMap, fossil fuel firms and lobby groups use Facebook to run advertisements aimed at promoting oil and gas as part of a climate change solution, rather than part of the problem, to delay the extinction of fossil fuel use.

According to InfluenceMap's research, 25 oil and gas businesses - including ExxonMobil and the American Petroleum Institute (API) - spent nearly $9.5 million with Facebook in 2020. They placed at least 25,247 pro-fossil fuel ads on Facebook's US platforms, which were viewed more than 431 million times.

Exxon alone spent $5 million on such ads, followed by the American Petroleum Institute ($2.7 million) and OneAlaska ($329,680).

The analysis also found that more than 6,700 ads on Facebook last year promoted claims that natural gas is a green or low carbon fuel, despite research by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stating otherwise.

Exxon in particular frequently used Facebook advertising to spread the claim that continued use of oil was important to keep the United States from depending on other countries for its energy needs.

In many cases, oil industry ads downplayed the real impact of the sector or exaggerated the potential negative impacts of the transition to renewable energy on the economy and local communities.

The report also observed a spike in spending on Facebook adverts in July 2020, the day after then-presidential candidate Joe Biden announced a $2 trillion climate plan. Spending by oil companies remained high until the election was over, four months later.

Biden's proposal called for a sharp reduction in fossil fuel consumption to fight the climate crisis.

InfluenceMap report also accuses Facebook of not properly enforcing its advertising policies, which it says have failed to keep pace with the urgent need for climate action.

'If Facebook is serious about its climate commitments, it needs to rethink whether it's willing to keep taking the money of fossil fuel companies,' the report says.

'It is vital that these platforms, which wield significant power over the political landscape, are transparent on how their platforms are being used to influence the debate on climate change,' it adds.

In a statement to CNN, Exxon said the assertions made in the report 'are deliberately misleading and completely without merit'.

The API claimed its 'work to inform the debate' (pro-fossil fuel advertising) has been validated by government and independent studies.

A Facebook spokesperson emphasised to CNN that two wrongs can make a right, protesting that fossil fuel advertisements are not exclusive to social media:

"While ads like these run across many platforms, including on television networks such as CNN, Facebook offers an extra layer of transparency by requiring them to be available to the public in our Ad Library for up to seven years after publication," the Facebook spokesperson added.

Gjøvik raised concerns about sexism, a hostile environment and "tone-policing"

Apple has reportedly placed a senior engineering programme manager on indefinite administrative leave after she complained about unsafe working conditions and sexism at work on Twitter.

The company is conducting an investigation into claims made by Ashley Gjøvik regarding a hostile environment at work.

So, following raising concerns to #Apple about #sexism, #hostileworkenvironment, & #unsafeworkconditions, I'm now on indefinite paid administrative leave per #Apple employee relations, while they investigate my concerns. This seems to include me not using Apple's internal Slack.

— Ashley M. Gjøvik (@ashleygjovik) August 4, 2021

In an interview with The Verge, Gjøvik said she had spent several months speaking with her employer about years of experiences with unsafe working conditions, sexual harassment, and retaliation in the workplace.

She urged Apple to take immediate steps to mitigate the hostile work environment while company officials investigate her complaints.

Apple initially offered Gjøvik EAP therapy and medical leave, which she was not satisfied with.

"I told them that made no sense, and said they should talk to my leadership and set up oversight and boundaries."

She said the employee relations team closed the investigation, claiming that nothing was wrong.

Gjøvik began to raise her issues in Apple's internal Slack. She was then asked to stop using the Slack channels for such complaints.

She was also asked not to meet with other female employees at the office to discuss the company's policies.

Wanted to share: #Apple employee relations confirmed this #tonepolicing is totally ok feedback for me to get from my #bigtech #male leaders & not #sexist.

As this investigation rolls on, I've decided to start Tweeting the stuff they say is "ok." I mean, they did say it was ok? pic.twitter.com/EImLTjRTBl

— Ashley M. Gjøvik (@ashleygjovik) August 3, 2021

Gjøvik says she was put on "indefinite paid administrative leave" on 4th August, while the company conducts a new investigation. This is the second time that Apple has investigated Gjøvik's claims about sex discrimination at the company.

In a statement to Engadget, an Apple spokesperson said the company has been "deeply committed to creating and maintaining a positive and inclusive workplace."

"We take all concerns seriously and we thoroughly investigate whenever a concern is raised and, out of respect for the privacy of any individuals involved, we do not discuss specific employee matters," the spokesperson added.

Apple has seen an uptick in recent employee activism, for a variety of reasons.

In May, the company fired Antonio García Martínez after many employees wrote a letter to management, complaining about sexist and misogynistic comments the engineer wrote in a book about Silicon Valley.

In June, a group of workers sent an internal letter to CEO Tim Cook, expressing their reservations over the requirement that employees return to the office for work in September.

They said they would prefer a more flexible policy, which would allow employees to work remotely if they feel comfortable working doing so.

The letter's signatories also complained that they have "often felt not just unheard, but at times actively ignored" over the last year.

Court enforceable undertaking proposed to address concerns.

A step towards the company's goal of full carbon neutrality by 2030

Dropbox has shared more details on its sustainability plans, announcing that it now uses fully reneawable electricity to power its data centre servers.

The cloud storage giant plans to be carbon neutral by 2030, and the use of full renewables is an important step towards that goal.

In an update released yesterday, the company said it was making progress towards its aim of achieving carbon neutrality for its Scope 1 and Scope 2 direct emissions, as well as its indirect Scope 3 emissions from business travel.

'As a company that runs on data centres, we recognise the impact we have on global energy consumption, and we're proud to announce that all of our data centre storage server power is covered by 100 per cent renewable electricity,' it said. 'This means when you're storing your data with us, you're not leaving a carbon footprint.'

Dropbox said it achieved its 100 per cent renewable target by focusing on three areas: maintaining best-in-class power usage effectiveness; optimising overall power consumption; and sourcing more renewable energy.

Power usage effectiveness (PUE) is an efficiency metric that tracks how efficiently a data centre operator is leveraging the power it consumes. Its use to compare data centres against each other has been criticised, however as it was always intended as an improvement metric for a company to rate its own progress, not a comparative one.

That hasn't stopped Dropbox from celebrating its 'top of the class' PUE rating. It said, '[B]y 2020, we were operating at 17 per cent below the industry average. We achieved this by implementing outside air economisation and thermal containment solutions and by maximising power utilisation throughout our spaces.'

The company also pointed to the business benefit of achieving its target, citing the Edelman 2021 Trust Barometer, which found that customers are more likely to trust companies that embrace sustainable practices (although only by 5.7 per cent).

Dropbox also said it is investing in technologies to automatically power down servers when not in use, which saves an estimated five per cent in power use over each server's lifespan.

The company is also working on driving down power consumption when a server is idle, which could yield energy savings of a further 50 per cent.

'In the last year and a half, we've reduced our data centre carbon footprint by 15 percent. In the coming years, we'll continue to find smart, innovative ways to cut back and reach our overall sustainability goals by 2030,' the company said.

In the post the firm also revealed an eye-catching method of driving employee engagement for its sustainability goals that sees it encourage staff to use volunteer time for environmental causes. Dropbox employees are entitled to 32 hours paid time off each year to work for a cause close to their hearts.

We live in a time of unprecedented change. Extreme weather is ravaging the world, disrupting lives and collapsing supply chains. It's never been more important for everyone step up and do their part for the planet, so join us on the 14th October for Computing's first ever Tech Impact event. We'll be talking about the importance of change, while also acknowledging its difficulty - and sharing success stories and advice from those who've been there and done that. Register now.

This article originally appeared on our sister site, Business Green.

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