News Round-Up: Climate Doomsday Downgraded, Data Centers Prevail Over Climate Goals, Musk Bows to Ofcom
Twice a week, the editorial team of Freedom Research compiles a round-up of news that caught our eye – or what felt like under-reported aspects of news deserving more attention.
Over the past few days, the following topics attracted our attention:
Musk Yields to UK’s Ofcom Pressure
Scientists: World Not Ending from Climate Change
Data Center Boom Throws Climate Goals Overboard
Musk Surrenders to UK’s Ofcom
X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, has agreed to process content
identified as illegal hate speech under the UK’s Online Safety Act within 48
hours. In doing so, X has yielded to the demands of the UK’s communications regulator, Ofcom, writes Reclaim The Net.
According to Ofcom’s statement, the platform pledged to “review and assess UK suspected illegal terrorist and hate content reported through its dedicated UK illegal content reporting tool on average within 24 hours of it being reported, to be calculated as a mean. As a backstop, it will review and assess at least 85% of UK suspected illegal terrorist and hate content reported through its dedicated UK illegal content reporting tool within a maximum of 48 hours.” In other words, X will now review and assess content in the UK that has been reported via its illegal content reporting tool and flagged as illegal - that is, hateful or terrorist in nature.
This represents a significant about-face for X. As recently as last August, the platform warned about the dangers of excessive oversight and stated: “When lawmakers approved these measures, they made a conscientious decision to increase censorship in the name of “online safety””. It appears that X has backtracked on its previous stance.
In addition to speeding up content moderation, X has made other commitments. For example, X has agreed to block access to accounts in the UK if they are reported for posting terrorist content and it is determined that the account belongs to a terrorist organization or is managed by such an entity. X has also agreed to share quarterly performance data with Ofcom so that the regulatory authority can verify compliance with the requirements.
Moreover, X confirmed that it will be “engaging with experts regarding reporting systems for illegal hate and terror content”. This comes after reports that some organizations frequently submitting illegal hate speech or terrorist content to X did not know whether their complaints had been received or whether any action had been taken.
It is worth noting that these “specialists,” with whom X will be “engaging”, appear to be the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), according to Ofcom’s press release. This is the organization with which Ofcom collaborated to gather evidence of suspected illegal terrorist content and hate speech online, including evidence against X. The CCDH is a pro-censorship advocacy group founded in 2018 by Imran Ahmed and Morgan McSweeney, who is now Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Keir Starmer. McSweeney has previously stated that while working at the CCDH, his goal was to “kill Musk’s Twitter”. As for Imran Ahmed, the U.S. State Department has imposed visa restrictions on him because his organization, the CCDH, has sought to force U.S. platforms to censor, demonetize, and suppress American viewpoints
Oliver Griffiths, director of Ofcom’s online safety unit, called the current agreement extremely necessary and added: “We have evidence that terrorist content and illegal hate speech is persisting on some of the largest social media sites.” Griffiths explained that Ofcom is requiring these sites to address the problem with specific measures.
Critics note that it is significant that the reporting tool directs content directly into X’s moderation queue. However, the obligation to review a massive volume - 85% of flagged content - within 24 to 48 hours means that the platform will probably feel pressured to delete such content regardless of whether it is actually hateful or terrorist in nature. Critics also note that Ofcom’s message is clear: sites must agree to the agency’s terms, adhere to its timeline, and use the agency’s preferred partners as gatekeepers, or face investigation, colossal fines, and ultimately even shutdown.
Scientists: World Not Ending from Climate Change
ScenarioMIP climate scientists examined climate change scenarios, including the previously “hottest” one - according to which the world had been expected to warm by about 4–5 °C by 2100, potentially leading to a climate catastrophe. The researchers have now concluded that the world is not facing an apocalypse due to climate change. On the contrary, the “hottest” scenario is unlikely in light of current trends, and other projections should be preferred, according to the NY Post.
This most dire prediction has served as the basis for numerous analyses predicting catastrophic consequences from burning fossil fuels and rising greenhouse gas emissions. For example, models predicted sharp sea-level rise, massive crop losses, rapid glacier melt, and more. This, in turn, led activists to fear widespread die-offs and to push for action in response.
In a study published in the journal Geoscientific Model Development, researchers examined several emissions scenarios and proposed seven alternatives to the most dire one. The researchers wrote: “For the 21st century, this range will be smaller than previously assessed: at the high end of the range, the CMIP6 high emission levels (quantified by SSP5-8.5) have become implausible, based on trends in the costs of renewables, the emergence of climate policy, and recent emission trends (Hausfather and Peters, 2020). At the low end, many CMIP6 emission trajectories have become inconsistent with observed trends during the 2020–2030 period.” In other words, the worst-case high-emission scenario has become unlikely. However, it could still re-emerge if there is a political, technological, or structural deviation from current trends.
Detlef van Vuuren, a senior researcher at the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and lead author of the study, added a caution: even the new climate scenario offers no cause for celebration. “That [3.5°C] would still be a very much worst-case scenario with considerable climate impacts,” said van Vuuren.
Critics of alarmist climate narratives have long pointed out that initial estimates were exaggerated and that some climate models overestimate global warming. In their view, the impact of human activity on the climate is much smaller than often predicted - or even marginal - and extreme forecasts are unlikely (see also here, here, here, here,here, here, here, here, here, here, here).
Data Center Boom Throws Climate Goals Overboard
In the United Kingdom, more than 100 new data centers have applied to connect to the gas grid to generate their electricity using natural gas. These requests total over 15 TWh per year and appear to ignore the country’s climate goals, writes The Guardian.
British officials note that data center connections to the national power grid have been delayed for years, with consequences now evident. There are around 100 GW of data center projects in the pipeline, and it is unlikely all can be connected. Developers must then find alternative methods.
Silvia Simon, research director at Future Energy Networks (which represents UK natural gas suppliers), said data center operators have submitted more than 100 applications to connect to the gas grid over the past two years. These requests total more than 15 TWh per year - equivalent to London’s consumption over four and a half months. “Not just for resilience, but for primary supply. So this is already an indication that they’re really struggling to get through to the electricity networks,” she added.
In the United States, many data centers rely on gas-fired power. Activists in Tennessee have opposed Elon Musk’s xAI supercluster, which uses dozens of methane-powered generators that they say endanger local health. Reports claim that 11 data centers operated by Meta, OpenAI, xAI, and Microsoft produce more CO₂ than the entire country of Morocco. Meanwhile, U.S. tech companies have lobbied in the EU to limit transparency on data center emissions.
The UK appears headed toward a future similar to the US as gas-dependent data center projects proliferate. Although gas was previously seen as a temporary bridge - avoided for its CO₂ emissions, permitting issues, and land-use impacts - developers are increasingly turning to fossil fuels. At the same time, developers and authorities appear to have softened their stance and are now more willing to consider fossil fuels to meet the country’s ambitious artificial intelligence goals, even at the cost of hundreds of billions.
However, expanding the gas network risks undermining the UK’s climate goals (Clean Power 2030), which call for the power system to run on less than 5% unabated gas-fired generation.
I can only imagine what's going through WACK JOB Elon Musks moron brain