News & Politics

Why You Can’t Trust Those “Rogue” National Park Service Tweets Yet

The "Nerd Resistance" would be really great—if it were verified.

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Badlands National Park. Photograph by Flickr user photommo.

In the wake of the Trump Administration’s clamping down on federal agencies’ distribution of information related to climate change, the media and liberal-leaning internet have been enthralled by two sets of Twitter accounts. First, by government accounts going “rogue” by spitting out scientific facts, and now by “alternative” accounts that claim to be manned by people inside the National Park Service, NASA, and the Environmental Protection Agency who are currently prohibited from communicating with the public.

The @AltUSNatParkService Twitter account, which describes itself as the “Unofficial #Resistance team of U.S. National Park Service” appeared Tuesday and quickly shot to more than 1 million followers, dwarfing the 384,000 users who follow the actual National Park Service. The account’s creators claim to be a group of disgruntled employees trying to oppose the moves Trump will make at the Interior Department and against science-driven policy across the government:


The internet was ecstatic:


Similar accounts claiming to be gag-ordered civil servants at other agencies have appeared as well. But there’s one big problem: we don’t know who they are. Although @AltUSNatParkService’s creators claim they are based in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington State, they spelled the name of the titular volcano as “Rainer.” They’ve also used traditionally British spelling of some words, like “honour” and “subsidised.” The account also appears to be rather informed about British politics.

It’s possible one of the authors could be one of the rangers’ friends overseas. It could just as easily be manned by someone pulling a viral prank, no matter how authentic the science it shares is. Despite many requests from many reporters, the account refuses to confirm its identity:

Unsurprisingly, the National Park Service is not the only agency with a newly popular “alternative” account tweeting in its name. Now there are accounts claiming to be the voice of silenced workers at NASA, the EPA, and something called the “US Science Service,” which is not a real agency.

That’s cute, but unconvincing. What the account misunderstands (or deliberately ignores) is that skilled journalists would know to protect sources’ identities when necessary—dissent from the career ranks of an agency that could be gutted fiscally or turned sideways because of a new administration certainly qualifies. But a news organization should not report information from an unnamed source until it’s at least authenticated the authorship. A publication asking for proof of identity does not necessarily mean names will be published.

Otherwise this all feels a little too good to be true; something easily believed because we so desperately want to believe it. While most news organizations have carefully avoided saying the “rogue” and “alternative” accounts are real, they haven’t offered much in the way of skepticism either. And some, like CBS News and Reuters are uncritically reporting these accounts as being the work of ticked-off agency workers.

Early Thursday, the account claiming to be from stymied park rangers posted these updates:

If the new contributors really are journalists, they should know they need to reach out to other media to confirm they, and the founders, are who they say they are.

The inception point for all of this came last Friday, when the National Park Service’s official account shared a side-by-side comparison of the crowds at the 2009 and 2017 inaugurations. The Interior Department, sensing the politicization of those photos, temporarily halted all its Twitter accounts. Since resuming, nearly all have remained apolitical, churning out the usual feed of park conditions and nature photos, although the account for Badlands National Park saw its followers surge when it spent a few hours tweeting about rising atmospheric carbon-dioxide levels.

Other government agencies have also tweeted things that could be taken as subtle criticism of the Trump Administration’s first week:

Maybe these posts are indeed intended as criticism or a political statement. If so, they sure are subtle. Climate change is a fact—full stop—no matter what the new Administration says. Trump’s opponents are obsessing over isolated tweets from blue-checkmarked accounts because they appear to be openly defiant of the White House’s new occupants.

But at least we know they’re coming from inside the building, even if they’re not necessarily an organized resistance. The so-called “rogue” accounts won’t even authenticate themselves with reporters through private or encrypted channels. Since we can’t confirm their veracity, all they do is serve as liberal wish fulfillment, not news of an active rebellion.

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Julie Strupp

Julie Strupp is an editorial fellow. Before Washingtonian, she did francophone video, radio, and photography projects addressing gender-based violence in Togo, West Africa with Peace Corps. She worked at the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and AllAfrica and has contributed to Mic, Center for Public Integrity, DCist, and more. Now a proud Petworth-dweller, she’s also a University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate who loves judo, biking, art, and keeping the powerful accountable.