The rogue Twitter accounts have collectively amassed hundreds of thousands of followers sometimes using the hashtag #resist or #resistance.
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Trump famously rejected the science of climate change when he tweeted in 2012 that climate change is a hoax, “created by and for the Chinese in order to make US manufacturing non-competitive”.
This week, after the Trump administration placed restrictions on several federal agencies regarding communication with the public, self-described “rogue” versions of government science institutions cropped up on Twitter, defiantly sharing their support of science.
Twitter users can choose to allow others on the service to find them by searching for their email address.
It is not clear who is running these accounts or whether they are actually affiliated with these federal agencies.
Reuters could not verify that all the accounts, which borrow the names and logos of their respective agencies, were being run by current federal employees of those agencies.
At the time, it was hard to know what to make of such unease. Though the administration has now reportedly lifted the media blackout on the Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency appears to be still frozen, and it might not be the only one.
Donald Trump ordered the National Park Service director to produce additional photographs of his inauguration crowds, believing the images “might prove that the media had lied” about the size of the audience, according to the Washington Post.
Though the account was only started on the 25th and has only tweeted 89 times, it’s already amassed a massive 597,000 followers.
As the AP notes, Trump has been highly critical of the notion of climate change, making this last few days of tweets something many see as a direct answer against the administration’s policies.
No one from the Trump administration has complained about the tweets, National Park Service spokeswoman Abby Wines told the AP. Some also say that the account is not subsidized by taxpayer money. Not that it matters much after the account announced this morning that it would be handing over the reins to activists.
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Within hours, unofficial “resistance” or “rogue” Twitter accounts began sprouting up, emblazoned with the government logos of the agencies where they worked, the list growing to at least 14 such sites by Wednesday afternoon. Certainly the former point is a very valid concern, as going against government orders could easily result in loss of livelihood. Instead, the new administration has trotted out what it calls the “America First Energy Plan”, which promises to dismantle the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the US rule, in addition to bringing back clean coal, which more or less doesn’t exist.
