An extraordinary situation has unfolded on ScienceAlert’s Facebook page over the preceding fortnight, necessitating a discussion.
As participants in the Covering Climate Now initiative, we recently amplified our reporting on the subject of climate change. Furthermore, we enthusiastically endorsed the Global Climate Strike on September 20, 2019. This significant event witnessed over four million individuals participating in worldwide demonstrations, advocating for climate action amidst escalating indicators of environmental degradation impacting our planet.
It is hardly surprising that a publication dedicated to scientific news would address climate change and its ramifications. However, the ensuing reactions that inundated our Facebook page initially appeared perplexing, until the underlying dynamics became apparent.
Our readership has voiced astonishment regarding the sheer volume of climate change deniers who seem to be engaging with our content. Increasingly, whenever a climate news article is disseminated on Facebook, the comments section is rapidly overrun with a surge of denialist viewpoints, exhibiting remarkable alacrity and intensity.
Articles are accumulating hundreds of comments in a compressed timeframe, often in stark contrast to the actual exposure or readership statistics of the piece. These engagement metrics serve as a clear indicator that the interaction is not organic but originates from a coordinated source.
As public acknowledgment of climate science progressively aligns with the scientific consensus, the covert operations that have historically financed climate change skepticism are becoming active. Their objective is to diminish the perceived discrepancy between climate researchers and the general public. This phenomenon is not novel.
However, a new arena for such activities has emerged: disrupting the comment sections on social media platforms, with the intention of propagating the perception that even readers of scientific websites like ours dissent from established climate science. Indeed, we are aware of their tactics and are identifying them as climate trolls.
The origins of these climate trolls remain obscure. They might be affiliated with self-organized community groups operating through clandestine Facebook groups. Alternatively, the uniformity in their language and the recurring use of identical memes could suggest the dissemination of talking points and financial backing from the fossil fuel industry. This is a possibility.
What is unequivocally clear is that ScienceAlert’s Facebook page is being deliberately targeted, and we are implementing countermeasures.
Our organization comprises a dedicated team of diligent professionals. Over the years, our commitment to disseminating scientific news globally has garnered ScienceAlert a readership exceeding 10 million individuals monthly. With such an extensive platform comes a profound obligation.
We shall not permit climate trolls to exploit our reach, visibility, and established brand to disseminate falsities and misinformation that directly contravene established scientific principles.
Less than a quarter of our monthly audience discovers our content via Facebook. Nevertheless, we maintain that our following on this particular platform is substantial enough to warrant significant remedial action on our part.
Regrettably, the moderation tools provided by Facebook are largely insufficient for this task. When a concerted influx of trolls occurs, we are unable to simply deactivate comments or restrict specific discussion threads. Our recourse is to meticulously curate and remove objectionable content as it appears.
In the face of these orchestrated assaults, preserving a civil discourse in our comment section imposes a considerable strain on our resources, not to mention the psychological well-being of our personnel.
This state of affairs aligns precisely with the objectives of the trolls, underscoring the necessity for your assistance, our esteemed readers, in maintaining a respectful environment.
Your interaction within our Facebook comment section is paramount. When you encounter one of our climate-related posts, you will invariably find climate troll comments appended. These often feature provocative, erroneous assertions or offensive visual content. Their intent is to provoke a reaction from you.
Do not succumb to their provocations. When you identify a climate troll comment, please respond by formally tagging ScienceAlert, enabling our moderation team to address it promptly.
We cannot overstate the importance of this approach: refrain from direct engagement. Each instance where you reply to a contentious comment, the Facebook algorithm promotes it, thereby attracting further participants into the dispute. Consequently, threads can devolve into heated exchanges, obscuring the critical climate information we aim to convey.
It is imperative to understand that these combative exchanges carry significant negative consequences. The individuals propagating unfounded claims about ‘climate hysteria’ are not motivated by a desire for persuasion through scientific evidence.
Their presence on ScienceAlert’s page is driven by a singular objective: to foster discord, contaminate the dialogue, and foster skepticism regarding climate science, suggesting it is a grand conspiracy orchestrated by “profit-driven scientists” (a claim that elicited considerable amusement).
If climate change is a subject of great personal concern to you, you may feel a strong inclination to challenge these trolls. They are fully aware of this predisposition and are actively leveraging it to amplify the visibility of their comments beyond their merit.
Resist this impulse with all your might. Simply tag us and disengage. We will not hesitate to prevent such individuals from participating in our comment section.
Furthermore, this situation transcends mere differences of opinion.
Naturally, the implementation of stringent moderation policies on a Facebook page, particularly one belonging to a news organization, may elicit accusations of “censorship,” restricting “freedom of expression,” and prohibiting “dissent.”
However, the principles of free speech do not apply in this context. We are neither a governmental entity suppressing its populace nor a corporation safeguarding its financial interests. ScienceAlert operates as an independent journalistic platform, sustained exclusively through display advertising revenue.
When we prohibit you from leveraging our extensive Facebook presence to disseminate falsehoods about climate change, we are not curtailing your right to speak. We are merely ushering you towards the exit.
The individuals exploiting this apprehension are precisely the climate trolls. They understand that their strength lies not in the validity of their arguments but in sheer numbers. As soon as one disruptive element is suppressed, another emerges, sometimes the same individual utilizing an alternate account, ostensibly to protest their removal for “disagreeing with ScienceAlert.”
Our established terms of use for Facebook comments have been explicitly stated for an extended period. We have no obligation to tolerate such conduct.
Indeed, we encourage other media organizations to adopt a similar stance of non-tolerance. Throughout recent weeks, comment sections on climate news articles across Facebook have transformed into ideological battlegrounds designed to squander valuable time that could otherwise be dedicated to productive endeavors.
If anything, the media has a fundamental responsibility to maintain a discourse centered on factual accuracy. This responsibility equally extends to our comment sections.
