Climate Disinformation Architecture

A Taxonomy of Strategies, Actors, and Theoretical Models in the Digital Ecosystem

Abstract

The climate crisis is accompanied by an information integrity crisis. To investigate the genealogy and lines of force of this strand of disinformation, this theoretical essay adopts a qualitative methodological approach inspired by cartography, synthesizing two decades of scientific literature. The mapping clarifies that the assemblage is composed of four interdependent axes of problematization: the sociological (actors), the cognitive (arguments), the discursive (content), and the technological (digital assemblage). The analysis demonstrates that denial has evolved from attacking science to a war against solutions. Instead of accidental noise, its nonlinear architecture constitutes an intrinsic functionality of the current platformized media system, which profits from the attention economy. The lines of force traced here indicate that purely reactive confrontation is insufficient. Thus, the study points to the engendering of prophylactic tactics — such as psychological inoculation (prebunking) and algorithmic literacy — as a timely research agenda to depollute the infosphere and protect the biosphere.