Advocates angry at the Trump administration’s approach to science and healthcare are fighting the administration by creating “alternative” Twitter accounts for several federal agencies.
So far there are four accounts run by a group of scientists, students, educators and public health advocates: @Alt_CDC, @Alt_HHS, @Alt_NIH and @Alt_USED. The are meant to represent alternatives to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Education.
The goal of the accounts is to galvanize support against any moves by the Trump administration to hamper science.
“We saw this as an opportunity to support not only the science community, but all of humanity,” an administrator of those accounts told the Washington Examiner. “We are planning to utilize this momentum to help rally support against actions of the Trump administration that jeopardize scientific integrity, the environment and our health.”
The administrator said they are in contact with some federal employees who are worried about the Trump administration, but didn’t say the accounts are staffed by such employees.
“We are working with individuals at the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], but are currently not connected to any [National Institutes of Health] or [Health and Human Services]-employed staff,” the administrator said.
The administrator added that “everyone is concerned about their jobs and their well-being, but we welcome the opportunity for any agency employees to connect with us.”
The administrator did not respond to a follow-up request on how it is working with the CDC.
Despite only being online for a few days, the sites have already garnered a lot of popularity. Alternative CDC has 85,000 followers and @Alt_NIH has around 81,000 followers.
There are other accounts that have popped up acting as alternatives to federal agencies. For instance, @altUSEPA is an account for the Environmental Protection Agency and has nearly 200,000 followers.
The Trump administration issued an order earlier this week banning social media use at the EPA and other federal agencies such as Interior and parts of the Agriculture Department.
The twitter account for Badlands National Park in South Dakota sent several tweets that went viral because they focused on climate change. The tweets were later deleted.
