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Climate scientists flee Twitter [to Mastodon] as hostility surges (www.france24.com)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by otter@lemmy.ca to c/technology@lemmy.world

139 comments fedilink hide all child comments

EDIT: I didn't notice in the original post, the article is from 2023

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/19707239

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".

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[–] otter@lemmy.ca 37 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (3 children)

The bit in the square brackets in the title was mine, because that's what I went into the article to look for. If you're on Mastodon and interested in that content:

The text from the article:

Glaciologist Ruth Mottram had more than 10,000 followers on Twitter but left in February and joined an alternative scientists' forum powered by Mastodon -– a crowdfunded, decentralised grouping of social networks founded in 2016.

"It's really been a revelation in many ways. It's a much quieter and more thoughtful platform," she told AFP.

On Mastodon, "I haven't had any abuse at all or even people questioning climate change. I think we'd become far too used to it on Twitter... I had blocked loads of accounts over on the birdsite (Twitter)," she said.

[–] fiend_unpleasant@piefed.social 7 points 2 months ago

I gave her a follow. She seems like a nice lady. I hope she enjoys the fediverse a little more than the "nether world"

[–] madjo@feddit.nl 5 points 2 months ago

Is there a list of all scientists that made the move to Masto?

[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 1 points 2 months ago

Ruth is a very kind person, her posts are amazing!