Politics

Government Scientists Go Rogue on Twitter

Anonymous employees create accounts to share science they say is being squelched

Multiple Twitter accounts have been set up in response to concerns President Donald Trump will censor scientific research. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Multiple Twitter accounts have been set up in response to concerns President Donald Trump will censor scientific research. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
By Eric Garcia
Posted January 26, 2017 at 10:36am

Scientists at various government agencies are using a network of Twitter accounts to push back against what they see as the Trump administration’s attempts to squelch federal science research.

Scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency, NASA, the National Park Service and elsewhere set up the rogue Twitter accounts after internal orders at agencies involved in environmental research have curbed dissemination of information, Reuters reported.

“You can take our official twitter, but you’ll never take our free time!” an anonymous Park Service employee posted on @AltNatParkService.

After the Badlands National Park’s Twitter account posted and then deleted tweets about climate change, a “rogue” account was set up called @BadHombreNPS, a reference to Trump’s statement in a presidential debate about the “bad hombres” crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

The account posted information about an upcoming march of scientists in Washington, D.C., to push back on attempts to censor research and also instructed readers to help archive science pages.