Study: Bots Are Fueling Online Climate Science Denialism

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

A quarter of all tweets about the climate crisis are written by bots, and the majority of computer-generated posts on the issue are geared to deny climate science.

The troubling finding comes by way of a yet-to-be-published study from Brown University that was obtained by The Guardian. “These findings suggest a substantial impact of mechanized bots in amplifying denialist messages about climate change, including support for Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement,” the study reads.

Researchers examined 6.5 million tweets posted in the period surrounding President Trump’s 2017 announcement that he planned to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement. They found that nearly 40 percent of tweets about “fake science” were generated by bots, while only five percent of tweets supporting climate action were artificial. Researchers were not able to ascertain the source of the computer-generated tweets.

“More often than not, they turn out to have all the fingerprints of bots,” Stephan Lewandowsky, an academic at the University of Bristol, told The Guardian of climate-related messaging on Twitter. “The more denialist trolls are out there, the more likely people will think that there is a diversity of opinion and hence will weaken their support for climate science.”

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/bots-fueling-climate-science-denialism-twitter-956335/

[CaptYossarian]

1. Yeah, I'm so at risk of having my mind changed.

Dear Bots,

Please go to f**king hell.

Sincerely...

[muriel_volestrangler]

2. It's the weak-willed and gullible who are at risk - like Republican politicians

Sad to say, the average DUer is probably more scientifically literate, and able to analyse reasoned arguments, than the average national Republican politician. We certainly try more. If the Republicans end up seeing that "#ClimateAlarmism" is trending on Twitter, they'll think, or pretend to think, that climate science is a Chinese hoax.

[CaptYossarian]

3. The GOP isn't denying out of stupidity. Well, in a few cases (Gohmert, Grothman, etc.).

But mostly, they're denying the obvious because the Kochs and other deep pocket fossil fools are bribing them to literally end the world. Instead of getting 72 virgins in the afterlife, they think they'll get 72 million unspendable dollars wherever they're going.

When you're responsible for the killing of 8 billion people and all the species on the planet, don't think heaven is in your future. Especially if you take photo ops with a lying, hate-filled televangelist.