When UNESCO came close to listing the Great Barrier Reef as "in danger" back in 2021, what do you think the reaction was?
⚠️ Alarm?
🗣️ Discussion?
🎬 Action?
🙉 Wilful ignorance?

How about science denial?

According to research by Carly Lubicz-Zaorski (Queensland University of Technology) and colleagues, which looked at posts on the recommendation on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, there was "a small, yet significant, mix of ideologically aligned partisan actors are fuelling the ‘denial machine’ in Australia."

It's no secret that the health of the Reef is declining because of our behaviour. Our most naughty behaviour is arguably that we're continuing to pump out lots of greenhouse gases, which is making Australia's coast less hospital to corals.

There's been lots of science about the decline of the reef over the years, so really it should not have come as a surprise that UNESCO, which manages the Reef’s World Heritage status, would also raise the alarm. What is a bit surprising, however, is that UNESCO decided to postpone making a decision on the "in danger" listing for a year (that's another story for another day).

The same week that UNESCO decided not to make a decision on the Reef's listing, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) released its Annual Summary Report of Coral Reef Condition for the years 2020 - 2021. It's worth noting that AIMS are a well-reputed institute which does good, solid science. Their work painted a less-than-rosy picture of the state of the Reef and its ability to recover from the damage we've caused. It's this report that became the focal point of denial and misrepresentation.

Not because the actors concerned genuinely thought the science was wrong.

Not because the actors concerned genuinely thought that the state of the Reef was not as dire as painted.

But by misrepresenting the science about the health of the Reef, they could contest the need for action on climate change.

Lubicz-Zaorski and colleagues say this was a "US-style ‘denial machine’.”

“Science was co-opted to suit the particular goals of ideologically aligned actors...a small but influential group of alternative media and certain non-media actors – including productivism advocates and conservative political actors – were able to repurpose and/or amplify content from mainstream media to further messages about the health of the Reef that aligned with their free-market values and opposition to potentially growth-limiting policy."

The work didn't look at if and how this denial machine influenced policy or public perception, but the researchers do note that "scholars have already observed how Australian climate policy is stifled by such interactions."

Curious to know more?

Read the open-access research 👇
Lubicz-Zaorski, C., Newlands, M., & Petray, T. (2023). Fuelling the climate and science ‘denial machine’ on social media: A case study of the Great Barrier Reef’s 2021 ‘in danger’ recommendation on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. Public Understanding of Science, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/09636625231202117