Yet another “rogue” Twitter account has cropped up in response to Donald Trump’s efforts to muzzle government agencies: this time, Rogue NASA is taking to social media to spread climate science. The new, unofficial account is one of a number of accounts purporting to be run by national park employees in their off hours. While the account makes clear in its bio that it’s not run by government employees, its mission is clear: to spread information about climate change in the event that Trump orders the agency to go silent.
It’s not an unfounded fear – the Trump administration has already ordered the EPA to cease all public communication, including press releases, interview with journalists, and social media posts, and may be planning to heavily censor the agency’s website on climate change. The President also briefly ordered the National Park Service to suspend all social media posts when the NPS tweeted a side-by-side comparison of the crowds at Barack Obama and Donald Trump’s respective inaugurations.
If (when?) the time comes that NASA has been instructed to cease tweeting/sharing info about science and climate change, we will inform you.
— Rogue NASA (@RogueNASA) January 26, 2017
The Rogue NASA account is tweeting on a variety of subjects, including climate change, general scientific research, Trump’s fossil fuel-backed cabinet picks, and resources for government employees who are finding themselves censored and wish to anonymously reach out to the press.
Related: More “rogue” national park Twitter accounts are popping up
Though the account was only started on the 25th and has only tweeted 89 times, it’s already amassed a massive 597,000 followers. While that may seem like a drop in the bucket compared to Donald Trump’s 22 million followers, it shows that the public is hungry for access for research-based information. While the official NASA account appears to still be tweeting about climate change for now, hundreds of thousands of people are now putting pressure on Trump to keep his hands off of the agency’s research.
Via The Mary Sue
Images via NASA
Science deniers are dangerous. The impact of climate change is real. There are consequences for infrastructure and human life. #resist
— Rogue NASA (@RogueNASA) January 25, 2017
Rogue Twitter accounts are fun, but gov’t employees and scientists are very afraid of being fired if they speak out & share facts. #resist
— Rogue NASA (@RogueNASA) January 25, 2017
Science is not a partisan issue. Science is the foundation of our society—we owe so much to peer-reviewed scientific research. #resist
— Rogue NASA (@RogueNASA) January 26, 2017
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