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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

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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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[–] ohellidk@sh.itjust.works 205 points 2 months ago (21 children)

I have no clue why all these normal, non-racist non-political people still use twitter. It was bought for the obvious purpose of providing a safe space for conservatives, racists, incels, and other outcasts to society. Mastodon is a perfect replacement for it, and you can pick an instance that suits you. It isn't owned by a mentally unstable billionaire!

[–] fubarx@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 months ago

The otherwise sensible people I know who are still on Twitter all say it's because of a specific interest or group, and the community of people around it who are all on there as well. They all hate what it's become but put up with it because nobody is sure where else to go.

There's also a sense of FOMO when it comes to realtime news updates. Until government, news media, and personalities go somewhere and take all their followers with them, it will be hard to break away.

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