NPS: Climate Tweets Came From Ex-Employee Who Had Access To Account

Small sunflowers provide a spash of color against the wind-hewn features of Badlands National Park near Interior, SD. Tuesday, June 27, 2006. (AP Photo/Mark A. Duncan)
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Despite theories that the Badlands National Parks Twitter account had gone rogue on the Trump administration in posting tweets about climate change, a National Park Service official told TPM Wednesday that the tweets came from a former employee who still had access to the park’s Twitter account.

“Several tweets posted on the Badlands National Park’s Twitter account today were posted by a former employee who was not currently authorized to use the park’s account,” the official said in an emailed statement to TPM. “The park was not told to remove the tweets but chose to do so when they realized that their account had been compromised.”

The viral tweets made headlines on their own but made even bigger waves when they were deleted a few hours later. They stood out in the wake of reports that the Trump administration had ordered the National Parks Service account to stop tweeting after it retweeted some unflattering tweets about President Trump and the size of his inauguration crowd.

The deletion of the Badlands’ tweets even prompted a new Twitter account, AltUSNatParkService, which does not appear to be affiliated with the National Parks Service in any way.

Though the tweets were apparently not posted by a current park service employee, the statement from the NPS official went on to say that the parks’ social media manager may post general information about parks, but are to refrain from posting about policy.

“At this time, National Park Service social media managers are encouraged to continue the use of Twitter to post information relating to public safety and park information, with the exception of content related to national policy issues,” the statement read.

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Notable Replies

  1. Plausible deniability…

    It cuts both ways…

  2. This explanation doesn’t pass the smell test for me

  3. The deletion of the Badlands’ tweets even prompted a new Twitter account, AltUSNatParkService, which does not appear to be affiliated with the National Parks Service in any way.

    Really? How could anyone possibly tell the difference?

    It’s time for everyone to pick a government department that Rethugliklans particularly hate — “We have several to choose from, folks. One to fit every lifestyle.” — and start a fake Twitter account, then flood the Titterverse will both real and fake information.

    The GOP (professional haters of democracy and humanity in general) will be stuck trying to correct and deny so much information that they won’t have time to do anything else. It’s obvious they want to create as much chaos as possible. It’s only right that we do our part and help them out.

  4. The Drumpfstapo are actively seeking the traitor to the Fatherland.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

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