AIO critical to information integrity on climate change and political advertising - reports

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The Australian Internet Observatory ensures independent monitoring of our information ecosystem according to two reports released last week.

We face a ‘deteriorating information integrity’ ecosystem around climate change and energy which is having significant impacts on public policy, understanding of science and on local communities warns a new report from Select Committee on Information Integrity on Climate Change and Energy.

The inquiry found that online platforms have a significant role in the spread of misinformation with false information being spread through a range of means including algorithmic bias, bots, trolls, AI-generated content and coordinated disinformation campaigns.

A submission to the inquiry from the Australian Human Rights Commission noted that “social media platforms play a central role largely because their 'algorithms often prioritise engagement over accuracy, creating echo chambers that reinforce existing beliefs and can amplify misleading content'. This, in turn, 'amplifies outrage and fear, making it harder for evidence-based climate policy to gain traction'.”

As the report highlights, “the lack of transparency in how social media algorithms operate can make it very challenging for researchers to effectively track mis/disinformation campaigns in real time.”

To address these issues the committee makes a number of significant recommendations specifically targeted at supporting trusted, reliable sources of information, digital literacy, and better monitoring of mis/disinformation networks including research and research infrastructure:

Recommendation 6: The committee recommends the Australian Government increase funding for social sciences research relating to threats to climate and energy information integrity including potential solutions. 

Recommendation 7. The committee recommends the Australian Government explore funding models for independent monitoring support (for example, via the Australian Internet Observatory) to track hidden digital influence ecosystems and provide independent transparency and accountability of platforms.

An example of how the Australian Internet Observatory supports independent monitoring and information integrity was provided by a submission from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making + Society (ADM+S) which highlighted the challenge of monitoring political advertising.

This week the ADM+S Australian Ad Observatory project published a full report on 2025 Australian Election Advertising on Social Media based on their analysis of 22,000+ real ads collected directly from voters’ smartphones using AIO’s Mobile Observation Ad Toolkit. As a result the report provides rare insight into what Australians actually saw on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and TikTok.

As lead researcher Daniel Angus explains: “Online political advertising is largely invisible… voters are being targeted with messages that are difficult to track, poorly disclosed, and often misleading.”

The research was enabled by the Mobile Online Advertising Toolkit (MOAT), developed with the Australian Internet Observatory, enabling researchers to capture real-world ad exposure beyond platform ad libraries.

Key findings from the research:
• Political ads are often invisible to public scrutiny
• Widespread use of misleading and decontextualised claims
• Growth of astroturfing, with lobby groups posing as grassroots organisations
• Evidence of scam ads, impersonation, and emerging AI-generated content

The Senate report emphasised that the complex and multifaceted nature of climate mis/disinformation requires a systemic response that includes governments, knowledge institutions, civil society, industry and particularly greater accountability from media companies and digital platforms. 

This inquiry echoes the findings of other inquiries and international campaigns. Australia is a signatory to the 2023 UNESCO Global Declaration on Information Integrity Online (Global Declaration), which deals with information integrity as a whole. In 2025 COP30 was the first COP to include information integrity as a core agenda item. Australia has not yet signed the Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change (Declaration) which calls on endorsing countries to promote the integrity of information on climate change at the international, national and local levels.