Climate denial has been rampant since Elon Musk took over Twitter. To avoid hate waves on the social network, some scientists prefer to leave it. For example, Peter Gleick, a climate and water specialist who is followed by nearly 99,000 people on Twitter, announced on May 21 that he would no longer post messages on the platform, accusing it of fueling racism and racism. Sexism.
The researcher says he’s used to “aggressive, personal and ad hominem attacks up to and including direct physical threats.” But, he told AFP, “in the last few months, since the arrival of new ownership and the changes at Twitter, the number and intensity of attacks has skyrocketed.”
Since buying Twitter six months ago, billionaire Elon Musk has eased moderation of problematic content, leaving behind previously banned figures like Donald Trump. Robert Rohde of the Berkeley Earth Association also analyzed the activity of hundreds of high-profile specialist accounts talking about climate science before and after they bought Twitter. He concluded that these tweets were no longer having the same resonance: the average number of “likes” (as a sign of approval) dropped by 38% and they were retweeted 40% less often.
A moderation that leaves a lot to be desired
Andrew Dessler, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at Texas A&M University, has decided to move most of his climate communication to another platform called Substack. “Communicating about climate on Twitter is (now) less useful because I see my tweets get less engagement,” he says.
“For almost every tweet about climate change, I’m inundated with replies from verified accounts with misleading or misinformed claims,” he points out. Others simply gave up on Twitter. Katharine Hayhoe estimates that of the 3,000 climate researchers she listed, 100 disappeared after the company was bought by the Blue Bird.