Scientists suffering insults and mass-spam are abandoning Twitter for alternative social networks as hostile climate-change denialism surges on the platform following Elon Musk's takeover.

Researchers have documented an explosion of hate and misinformation on Twitter since the Tesla billionaire took over in October 2022 – and now experts say communicating about climate science on the social network on which many of them rely is getting harder.

Policies aimed at curbing the deadly effects of climate change are accelerating, prompting a rise in what experts identify as organised resistance by opponents of climate reform.

Peter Gleick, a climate and water specialist with nearly 99,000 followers, announced on May 21 he would no longer post on the platform because it was amplifying racism and sexism.

While he is accustomed to “offensive, personal, ad hominem attacks, up to and including direct physical threats”, he told AFP, “in the past few months, since the takeover and changes at Twitter, the amount, vituperativeness, and intensity of abuse has skyrocketed”.

  • epidemian
    2·
    18 days ago

    ditching Twitter as far as I see has no downside.

    I’m curious: have you ever liked Twitter?

    Because i could understand not seeing any downside to leaving a site if one has never actually liked it. But, many people liked (and still like) Twitter. I personally have known many interesting people there, and even started some nice in-person friendships. I don’t like at all what’s become of Twitter; i have it now blocked through the LeechBlock extension so i don’t fall into doom/shit scrolling. But i think there’s still some good in there. I can totally understand how many people would find it difficult to fully leave; myself included.