After facing the fury of women across the globe, the 45th President of the United States– Donald Trump is now facing resistance from the scientific community, that apparently has gone ‘rogue’ on the social media. President Trump’s orders restricting the scientists and the governmental organisations from sharing information with the public on social media regarding issues like climate change has prompted a digital rebellion against him on Twitter, wherein the scientists are setting up ‘rogue’ or ‘resistance accounts’ borrowing the names and logos of the governmental agencies to voice their concern.
Over a dozen such accounts have surfaced on Twitter. Surprisingly, the list includes agencies like NASA and NOAA, that have not been restricted yet. The messages by these rogue accounts are primarily focused on imparting information about the latest scientific developments. These accounts are using hashtags like ‘#resist’ and ‘#resistance’ to demonstrate their disagreement. Apart from NASA, other agencies that have formed the ‘resistance accounts’ include EPA, FDA, USDA and US Forest Service among others.
NASA’s rogue account recently shared its concern regarding the restrictions being placed on the scientific community in a tweet. “We cannot allow Mr. Trump to silence the scientific community. We need peer-reviewed, evidence-based research MORE THAN EVER now,” it tweeted. “How sad is it that government employees have to create rogue Twitter accounts just to communicate FACTS to the American public?,” it wrote in another tweet.
This is only the beginning of the rebellion against President Trump as the advocates of the scientific community are even planning to hold a ‘March for Science’ just like the women’s march in support of the digital movement in Washington, dates of which haven’t been finalised yet. Meanwhile, the organisers have even set up ‘March for Science’ account on Twitter to promote the digital resistance and hold the march.
We cannot allow Mr. Trump to silence the scientific community. We need peer-reviewed, evidence-based research MORE THAN EVER now.
— Rogue NASA (@RogueNASA) January 25, 2017
How sad is it that government employees have to create rogue Twitter accounts just to communicate FACTS to the American public?
— Rogue NASA (@RogueNASA) January 25, 2017
The next big thing on the #resist agenda is @ScienceMarchDC. If you can’t make it to DC, think about starting a science march in your city!
— Rogue NASA (@RogueNASA) January 26, 2017
