![]() 28 per cent of top Twitter posts mentioning ‘climate lockdown’ between September 2020 and April 2021 made reference to this one article, which re-worded its headline hours after publication.Ī similar percentage (29 per cent) cited ‘The Great Reset’ or ‘WEF’, referring to a World Economic Forum summit of that title last year which was twisted into a viral conspiracy theory about a tyrannical world government. This was seized on by opportunistic climate sceptics. It found that right-wing figures were hitching a ride on poorly-worded headlines from the media.Ī Guardian article with a misleading headline (top image, changed after a few hours to the bottom) suggesting a ‘global lockdown every two years’ was needed to combat climate change was the 2nd most shared link discussing ‘climate lockdown’, referred to in 28% of all posts (3/12) /AeRpVwvL0a- Institute for Strategic Dialogue October 18, 2021Ī headline from a March 2021 Guardian article implied that we needed a global lockdown “every two years” to cut emissions. Over the last eight months, ISD has tracked how ‘climate lockdown’ paranoia took hold. What is problematic, however, “is when all public issues are brought into a conspiratorial framework which implies there are unseen power dynamics at play.” ![]() “It's important to recognise that fear of government overreach or authoritarianism is not in and of itself extremist,” senior policy manager at ISD Jennie King tells Euronews Green. But the ‘climate lockdown’ conspiracy brings them into a false and damaging proximity.Ī new report by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), a global organisation tackling extremism and polarisation, explains how this conspiracy claims that governments will strip people of their freedoms under the pretext of tackling climate change. Both have caused seismic global impacts, on vastly different scales and timelines. It’s no surprise that parallels are drawn between the two crises. It is one that links the unprecedented rules imposed during the pandemic with the radical measures that will be required to halt climate change. As the world grappled with the spread of COVID-19 last year, a dangerous new breed of disinformation took root.
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