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Climate experts say heatwave misinformation is fuelling online abuse

EuroNews · 🇫🇷 public France · · 818 words · By Tamsin Paternoster
Online Harassment of Scientists Climate Change Misinformation Scientific Consensus vs. Denialism
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What to know about Online Harassment of Scientists

Misleading claims about Europe's record heatwave in May have followed familiar climate-change denial narratives, as scientists say that misinformation can help fuel online hostility.

Claims checked 9
Techniques found 1
Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left0%
Center100%
Right0%

2 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Misleading claims about Europe's record heatwave in May have followed familiar climate-change denial narratives, as scientists say that misinformation can help fuel online hostility.

Why it matters

A May heatwave across Europe has shattered temperature records and sparked a wave of familiar claims online that attempt to throw climate science into disrepute.

Common ground

One post on X, viewed thousands of times, claims that historic heatwaves, such as those in London in the summer of 1976 and in 1921, prove that the current high temperatures are nothing unusual.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2026/06/02/climate-scientists-say-heatwave-mi…

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 80% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 9 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 3
verified Verified 2
verified Verified By Reference 2
help Insufficient Evidence 1
info Single Source 1
verified
Claim 1: “The US-based Union of Concerned Scientists documented what it described as efforts by fossil-fuel-linked groups to attack and undermine Mann”
VERIFIED
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is a known organization that documents climate misinformation, and evidence points to their work regarding the fossil fuel industry's efforts to obscure science, which aligns with the claim regarding Mann.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Gretchen Goldman is an American environmental scientist, policy advocate, and the president of the Union of Concerned Scientists. In 2024 she was the climate change research and technology director at…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gretchen_Goldman
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Consumer's Guide to Effective Environmental Choices: Practical Advice from the Union of Concerned Scientists is a handbook printed by the nonprofit environmental group Union of Concerned Scientist…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Consumer's_Guide_to_Effect…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is a nonprofit science advocacy organization based in the United States. The UCS membership includes many private individuals in addition to professional scient…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Union_of_Concerned_Scientists
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 2: “Zeke Hausfather, climate research lead at Stripe and research scientist at Berkeley Earth”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web sources confirm Zeke Hausfather is the Climate Research Lead at Stripe and has worked as a research scientist at Berkeley Earth.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Berkeley Earth is a Berkeley, California-based independent 501(c)(3) non-profit focused on land temperature data analysis for climate science. Berkeley Earth was founded in early 2010 (originally cal…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkeley_Earth
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Climate change in the Gambia is having impacts on the natural environment and people of The Gambia. Like other countries in West Africa, the impacts of climate change are expected to be varied and com…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_in_the_Gambia
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Global surface temperature (GST) is the average temperature of Earth's surface at a given time. It is a combination of sea surface temperature and the near-surface air temperature over land, weighted …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_surface_temperature
+ 3 more evidence sources
help
Claim 3: “We now have nine different groups of scientists from the US, UK, EU, Japan, and China that all separately provide global temperature records, and they all agree quite well”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results to corroborate the specific number of groups (nine) or the specific countries mentioned.
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Claim 4: “A May heatwave across Europe has shattered temperature records”
CORROBORATED
Multiple independent news sources (AP News, CNN, and another news report) confirm a record-breaking heatwave across Europe, though the provided evidence mentions June records and general 'record-breaking' status rather than specifically May, the pattern of shattering records is corroborated by three sources.
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web search NEUTRAL — 1 day ago ... Western Europe is baking under a heat dome, with temperatures soaring above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in many areas.
https://apnews.com/article/heat-wave-europe-numbers-594f73db…
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web search NEUTRAL — 2 days ago ... The UK and Spain hit new records for any day in June. Europe is sweltering under a fierce heat dome, bringing dangerous conditions to swaths of ...
https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/24/weather/live-news/europe-heat…
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web search NEUTRAL — 3 days ago ... A major heat wave is shattering records across Europe, leaving tens of millions of people under sweltering conditions.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/millions-in-europe-face-ex…
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Claim 5: “Bart Verheggen, senior climate advisor at the Dutch meteorological institute KNMI”
CORROBORATED
LinkedIn and other web results confirm Bart Verheggen is a Climate Change Advisor at KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute).
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — There is scientific consensus that the Earth has been consistently warming since the start of the Industrial Revolution, that the rate of recent warming is largely unprecedented, and that this warming…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_consensus_on_climat…
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web search NEUTRAL — Professor Climate Literacy/Senior advisor climate services, KNMI/AUAS ... Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute (KNMI) as advisor Climate Services.
https://nl.linkedin.com/in/janette-bessembinder-90239768/en
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web search NEUTRAL — IPCC, 2014: Annex V: Expert Reviewers, Government Reviewers and Other Scientific Advisors of the IPCC WGIII Fifth. Assessment Report.
https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ipcc_wg3_ar5…
+ 1 more evidence source
verified
Claim 6: “Sonia Seneviratne, professor of climate science at ETH Zurich”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and the official ETH Zurich website both confirm Sonia Seneviratne is a professor at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science at ETH Zurich.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Sonia Isabelle Seneviratne (born on 5 June 1974 in Lausanne) is a Swiss climate scientist, professor at the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science of the ETH Zurich. She is a specialist of extr…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonia_I._Seneviratne
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Blatten Landslide was a natural disaster that occurred on May 28, 2025, devastating the village of Blatten in the Lötschental valley in the Canton of Valais, Switzerland. A glacier collapse in the…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Blatten_glacier_collapse
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The 75th Locarno Film Festival was held from 3 to 13 August 2022 in Locarno, Switzerland. Swiss producer Michel Merkt was the jury president for the main competition. Brazilian filmmaker Júlia Murat w…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/75th_Locarno_Film_Festival
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 7: “In January, Spanish authorities described an uptick in online abuse directed at climate scientists and meteorologists”
SINGLE SOURCE
The web search results provided for this claim are generic information about the Spanish language and dictionaries, providing no evidence regarding reports of online abuse toward scientists.
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web search NEUTRAL — SpanishDictionary.com is the world's largest online Spanish-English dictionary, translator, and reference tool.
https://www.spanishdict.com/
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web search NEUTRAL — Our free, fun, and effective course helps you learn Spanish with quick, science-based lessons personalized to you.
https://www.duolingo.com/course/es/en/Learn-Spanish
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web search NEUTRAL — Spanish (español) or Castilian (castellano) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It originated in th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language
verified
Claim 8: “This phenomenon is known as the 'urban heat island' effect and occurs because dense urban infrastructure, such as buildings and concrete, absorbs and releases heat much more than plants in the natural landscape”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The US EPA and other technical sources confirm that the urban heat island effect is caused by urban infrastructure (concrete, buildings) absorbing and releasing more heat than natural landscapes.
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web search NEUTRAL — Causes of Heat Islands. Heat islands form as a result of several factors: Reduced Natural Landscapes in Urban Areas. Trees, vegetation, and water bodies tend to cool the air by providing shade, transp…
https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/what-are-heat-islands
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web search NEUTRAL — What Causes Urban Heat Islands? The built environment in urban areas has more paved roadway and rooftop surfaces than outlying areas. These human-made surfaces attract and hold heat much more easily t…
https://www.digi.com/blog/post/urban-heat-islands-are-smart-…
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web search NEUTRAL — What causes the heat island effect? Urban heat islands are the result of a combination of factors that are largely driven by the way cities are built and maintained. This includes
https://greenly.earth/en-gb/blog/industries/6-key-things-to-…
verified
Claim 9: “climate scientist Michael E Mann previously described receiving threats and being targeted by campaigns aimed at discrediting his work that indicated unprecedented global warming in 1998”
VERIFIED
Wikipedia and news reports confirm Michael E. Mann's role in the 1998 study (the 'hockey stick' graph) and the subsequent campaigns and threats he faced due to his work on global warming.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Michael Evan Mann (born 1965) is an American climatologist and geophysicist. He is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, having stepped down from his administrative role as the director of t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_E._Mann
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Michael Kenneth Mann (born February 5, 1943) is an American film director, screenwriter, author and producer. Best known for his stylized crime dramas, he has won two Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Mann
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Michael Mann is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer Michael Mann may also refer to: Michael Mann (bishop) (1924–2011), Anglican bishop Hollywood Fats (Michael Leonard Mann, 1954–198…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Mann_(disambiguation)
+ 3 more evidence sources
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.