Scientists who have faced insults and even threats on Twitter are leaving the social network, where messages denying climate change have increased since Elon Musk took over the company.
Scientist Peter Gleick, a climate and water expert with about 99,000 followers on Twitter, announced on Sunday that he would stop posting on the platform, which he accuses of increasing racism and sexism.
The investigator said, quoted by Agence France Presse, that he was accustomed to “aggressive, personal and non-personal” attacks, up to and including direct physical threats,” adding that with the new “owner” of Twitter and the changes made, “the number and intensity of attacks have increased dramatically “.
Since he bought Twitter six months ago, billionaire Elon Musk has eased moderation on content deemed more problematic and allowed previously banned personalities like Donald Trump to return to the network.
Physicist Robert Rohde of Berkeley Earth, a California-based nonprofit research organization, analyzed hundreds of accounts of climate science experts with large followings before and after Elon Musk’s acquisition of the company.
Robert Rohde concluded that scientists’ “tweets” no longer have the same impact, stating that the average number of “likes” on posts, which means the approval of those who read them, has fallen by 38%. Also, the number of reposts of these posts decreased by 40%.
In another study, climate scientist Kathryn Hayhoe analyzed responses to the same tweet, which she voluntarily posted twice, before and after Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter.
He concluded that responses from “bots” – fake computer-controlled accounts – and “trolls” – profiles that use insults and disinformation – have increased 15 to 30 times over the previous two years.
Andrew Dessler, professor of atmospheric science at Texas A&M University, decided to move much of his weather reporting to another platform, Substack.
“In replies to almost every tweet about climate change, I get replies with erroneous or misinformed statements,” he said.
Other investigators have simply given up on Twitter. Of the 3,000 climate scientists she listed, researcher Katherine Heihoe has calculated that 100 have already disappeared from the web.
Glacier expert Ruth Mottram, who has been followed by more than 10,000 people on Twitter, pulled out in February by joining a forum of scientists on Mastodon, a decentralized social network launched in 2016.
Michael Mann, a leading climate scientist at the University of Pennsylvania who is regularly attacked online, says the spread of misinformation is “organized and orchestrated” by opponents of climate policy.
In The New Climate War, published in 2022, he reported on oil producers’ actions to encourage climate change denial on social media.
“Professional trolls manipulate the internet environment with strategic postings that generate conflict and division,” Michael Mann told AFP.
Until now, Twitter has not directly commented on changes to its algorithms that generate traffic and visibility on the network. The company’s press office contacted AFP and sent an auto-generated email… “with a poop emoji.”
Elon Musk has already explained the philosophy behind the changes that took place in January: “People who are more right-wing should see more left-wing stuff, and left-wing people should see more right-wing stuff. “.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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