Graphic featuring from left to right, Morano, Musk, & Milloy

UK Times: The Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) said the rapid growth of the 50 accounts was unlikely to be down to a “universal uplift” of follower counts after Musk’s takeover. The group said a probable reason for the surge was the platform’s new paid-for Twitter Blue subscription. The service adds a blue tick identical to so-called “legacy verified accounts”, which were designed to make clear to users that the accounts of public figures are controlled by them.

The CCDH found that 23 of the 50 accounts were paying for Twitter Blue, including well-known climate deniers, Steve Milloy and Marc Morano. “Giving users blue verified badges for $8 a month, Musk is giving climate deniers a veneer of credibility they just couldn’t get before,” Callum Hood, head of research at the CCDH, said. “It helps them look legitimate, like a comparable source of authority to all the scientists and experts.”

Politico’s E&E: Since Musk’s purchase of Twitter two months ago, some prominent climate deniers have returned to the platform after being banned for pushing misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic. There also are signs that scientists have left Twitter after their posts depicting global warming research were swarmed by critics. … 

Marc Morano, who runs a blog that routinely attacks climate science, said that since Musk bought Twitter the appearance of his name in climate search results “appear to be juiced by the new algorithms.”  “My Twitter account and many others opposing the ‘consensus’ climate view have all increased visibility dramatically since Musk took over Twitter,” he said in an interview. “Whatever Musk is altering, I hope he keeps it up.” Indeed, the number of tweets rejecting climate science have never been higher than in 2022, according to research by the University of London conducted on behalf of The Times newspaper. There have been more than 850,000 climate denial tweets or retweets so far this year. There were 650,000 such messages in 2021 and 220,000 in 2020, the analysis found. … 

Twitter appears to now boost the accounts of serial climate misinformers, including Steve Milloy, a former Trump EPA transition official; Patrick Moore, former head of the CO2 Coalition; and Morano, who runs a climate denial blog. In recent Twitter searches, their accounts appeared in top results with climate scientists, media outlets and NOAA.