- TikTok has fewer users than Facebook and Instagram but a higher carbon footprint.
- The 50+ age group is the primary driving force behind emissions from Instagram usage.
- A lifetime on TikTok produces the same amount of CO2 as flying from London to Borneo.
- Facebook users are predicted to be responsible for 5,884 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2023.
- Reddit is one of the worst social media platforms for the environment.
Burning fossil fuels, taking short haul flights and farming meat – we’re all well aware of the devastating impact these can have on the environment. But what you may not be aware of is that idly scrolling through your social media feed also adds heavily to your carbon footprint.
Companies such as Facebook, TikTok and Instagram all use huge sites to store and process data, and the number of servers required to meet the world’s social media demands is phenomenal, consuming vast amounts of energy with commensurately high carbon dioxide emissions. We at BanklessTimes.com have looked at the environmental impacts of these data centres, and delved into the data to see which social media channel is the most environmentally friendly, and which carries the largest carbon footprint.
Facebook Will Be Responsible for 5,884 Tonnes of Carbon Dioxide in 2023
Facebook is the world’s largest social media channel, boasting almost 3 billion active users a month in 2022, a number which is predicted to remain in place for 2023. According to research from Oberlo, the average Facebook user spends 35 minutes a day scrolling through the platform. The study also reveals that one minute of active Facebook usage is equal to 47.4g carbon emissions, so one average user is responsible for 1,659 grams of CO2 emissions per day, or 605 kilograms each year. Taking those 3 billion active monthly users into account, Facebook alone will be responsible for 5,942.90 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2023. This number is clearly worrisome, as it is an 0.8% increase from 2022, when Facebook was responsible for releasing 5,891.2 metric tonnes of greenhouse gases into the environment.
We use Facebook as an illustrative example, but Meta, which also owns Instagram, is committed to tackling its carbon footprint, employing former Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, as its VP of Global Affairs. 2020 was the first year that Meta achieved net zero emissions for their global operations, and they’re also supported by 100% renewable energy.
TikTok is The Most Pollutive Social Media Company in the World
One company that could take a leaf out of Meta’s book is TikTok. Although it has a billion users per year, it is still almost only one-third of the size of Facebook, yet still produces more carbon emissions than any of its competitors. Each TikTok user produces 30.72kg of CO2 a year, which is more than the yearly user amounts of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube put together which equates to 30.61kg. Reddit is the second most pollutive social media company worldwide, with its 43 million users each responsible for producing 21.36kg of CO2 emissions - a number which is still 1.4 times less than TikTok.
So why is TikTok the most pollutive social media platform in the world? The answer lies in the fact that streaming videos consumes more energy than scrolling through images or catching up on your friends’ updates. In fact, a recent study by Greenspector showed that a minute on TikTok has a carbon footprint of 2.63g. This in turn uses 0.27 litres of water and 1.88 square metres of land.
When it comes to TikTok, the short snappy reels captivate its audience, particularly those in the 10-19 age group who spend on average 75 minutes a day scrolling through the website. While the average time spent across all the social media platforms is not dissimilar, sadly the same can not be said for the amount of CO2 produced by each platform. The average Facebook user will spend 33 minutes browsing per day, with a carbon footprint of 26.07g and Instagram’s average user spends 29 minutes per day, consuming 30.45g. However, while the average TikTok user spends only 32 minutes on the site, the carbon footprint of that shorter session is a whopping 84.16g.
While we can see from the table that the most frequent users of social media are the 20-29 year old Instagram users, this group, and the 30-39 age bracket of Instagram and Facebook users, are not as pollutive as the 10-19 age group of TikTokers, who expel 51.28g of carbon emissions per minute.
With baby boomers often criticised for generating more carbon emissions than any other age group, can we finally let them off the hook, and is the incessant scrolling of the younger crowd equally to blame?
While carbon emissions from the 50+ age group is largely attributable to Instagram-scrolling, each minute of this is less harmful than just 15 seconds of TikTok viewing for the 10-19 age bracket. In fact, all of Facebook’s carbon emissions put together is less than those generated by TikTok’s 10-19 age group alone.
So what, if anything, are TikTok doing to combat climate change? ByteDance, the company that owns both TikTok and its Chinese equivalent Douyin, aims to reduce its carbon emissions by at least 90% by 2030. If successful, this should help put TikTok more in line with its competitors.
A Lifetime on TikTok is the Equivalent of Driving From London to Tokyo
Carbon emissions are intangible, so to put things in context let’s compare it to driving a car: according to the World Bank, average life expectancy on Earth is 72 years. Assuming the average user scrolls social media according to the earlier average usage statistics, in that time each TikTok user will produce 22.2 metric tonnes of CO2, which is the equivalent of driving 5,550 miles. Or if you prefer, 7,215 air miles produces slightly more CO2 than a flight from London Heathrow to Borneo (7,177 miles).
Similarly a lifetime “hearting” images on Instagram produces more CO2 than a flight from San Francisco to Miami (2,585 air miles) or at 2,008 road miles is the equivalent of driving from Edinburgh to Rome.
What Should Social Media Companies Be Doing to Cut Carbon Emissions?
Both Meta and ByteDance are committed to cutting their emission levels by the end of the decade, but Alice Leetham, Editor of Bankless Times, believes there is more that companies could be doing:
They should consider following the lead of Meta – the global giant has already achieved zero emissions and it plans to achieve its wider target of net zero emissions across its supply chain by 2030. Another thing Meta has done well is to invest in renewable energy, with contracts in place for more than six gigawatts of wind and solar energy across 18 US states and five countries. Of course, not all social media companies have vast resources, but smaller companies could consider using carbon offsetting initiatives and making the SME Climate Commitment.Alice Leetham, Editor of Bankless Times
Methodology:
1) Time spent for every age group on Tiktok, Facebook, Instagram was calculated using this method 75 ---- 0.325 (percentage of age group 10-19)
x ----- 0.295 (percentage of age group 20-29)
x=(75*0.295)/0.325
2) CO2 emissions per day/week/year were calculated by multiplying the CO2 emissions created per 1 minute of usage (it is given in grams) and scaling up according to average usage statistics.
Sources:
21 Essential TikTok Statistics You Need to Know in 2023 (thesocialshepherd.com)
Climate - Meta Sustainability (fb.com)
Stepping up the fight against climate change - Engineering at Meta (fb.com)
https://sustainability.fb.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/FB_Net-Zero-Commitment.pdf
Description of "WhatsApp Emits Carbon Dioxide" Creates Controversy - TechnoPixel
Snap Inc. - Investor Relations
Moss Is A Powerful Carbon Storage Solution. Can It Help Fight Climate Change? (inverse.com)
What is the environmental footprint for social media applications? 2021 Edition - Greenspector
https://canneslionsaustralia.com.au/younglions/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Digital-Willy-and-Alex.pdf
The carbon footprint of streaming video: fact-checking the headlines – Analysis - IEA
TikTok Emits Three Times More Carbon Than Facebook Per Minute Of Use (banklesstimes.com)
Twitter User Statistics: How Many People Use Twitter In 2023? (searchlogistics.com)
Average Time Spent on TikTok (2019–2024) (oberlo.com)
Average Time Spent On Social Media in 2023 (by Platform) (oberlo.com)
TikTok Age Demographics [Updated Jun 2023] | Oberlo
Instagram Age Demographics [Updated Jun 2023] | Oberlo
TikTok is crushing YouTube in annual study of kids' and teens' app usage | TechCrunch
Social media | Qustodio Annual Data Report 2020 | Qustodio
Average Daily Time Spent on Social Media (Latest 2023 Data) - BroadbandSearch
Tailpipe Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Typical Passenger Vehicle | US EPA
Our Commitment to Combating Climate Change | Meta (fb.com)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01302-y?utm_medium=affiliate&utm
ByteDance pledges to be operationally carbon neutral by 2030 - DCD (datacenterdynamics.com)
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/moment-screen-time-control/id771541926#?platfor
10 Facebook Statistics You Need to Know in 2022 [New Data] (oberlo.com)
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