An activist group made up of scientists says that misinformation about climate change is increasing on the platform again.
After Elon Musk bought Twitter, the amount of content downplaying and denying the dangers of climate change has started to rise again on the social media platform.
This is what the members of an international group of about 25 scientists say, who have taken it upon themselves to clean Twitter of climate change deniers. Team Ninja Trollhunters (TNT), a group of troll-hunting ninjas, claims to have kicked 600 climate change deniers off the platform.
When TNT started its operations in 2019, the purpose was to correct the spreaders of false information by putting researched information on the causes and consequences of climate change on the table.
– After a couple of months, we realized that this did not achieve anything, because for most people the facts are meaningless, says a member of the group Mary For the British Broadcasting Corporation for the BBC.
The group quickly chose a new strategy. It started reporting misinformation spreaders on Twitter terms of service violation.
Denying climate change is not against Twitter’s terms of service, but hate speech and threats are, for example. Activists began monitoring accounts spreading misinformation about climate change, and reported them if and when they tweeted content that violated the terms of service.
TNT: Misinformation has increased again
The members of the group talk about their activities in interviews that they have given in the spring to, among others, the BBC, the news agency AFP and a news channel for Euronews. Activist scientists appear under pseudonyms because they fear being the target of hate and harassment from the trolls they hunt.
Members of the group say that misinformation about climate change has recently increased again on Twitter. After Musk’s Twitter trades, thousands of suspended accounts were allowed back on the platform. Misinformation on Twitter has also increased since then, say the organizations monitoring the situation, and Twitter hasn’t shown that they consider it a problem.
TNT members have themselves been accused of trolling. Although the group instructs its members not to argue with their targets, some have deliberately provoked climate change deniers with the goal of getting them to violate Twitter’s terms of service.
– I don’t see that by provocation I would cause more damage than the climate change deniers. They are doing us all a disservice by trying to convince people that climate change is a myth, says one member of the group Arthur for the BBC.
Source: AFP