Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

‘Alternative’ National Park Service twitter gains 600,000 followers after Trump orders social media blackout

'You can take our official twitter, but you'll never take our free time!’

Rachael Revesz
New York
Wednesday 25 January 2017 23:14 GMT
Comments
President Trump forced the NPS to delete and retract its tweets about climate change
President Trump forced the NPS to delete and retract its tweets about climate change (Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Shortly after Donald Trump ordered a "media blackout" on certain government agency social media accounts, the National Park Service found a new ally.

The AltUSNatParkService account has already gained more than 600,000 followers in the one day since it launched.

It is not clear whether the account is run by NPS staff in their spare time or whether it is run by independent activists.

"Can't wait for President Trump to call us FAKE NEWS," they tweeted.

"You can take our official twitter, but you'll never take our free time!"

After the NPS tweeted photos of President Trump’s relatively small inauguration crowds, he temporarily suspended its twitter access.

The Badlands National Park Service account tweeted about climate change, then those tweets were deleted.

The new "alternative", non-official account re-tweeted those deleted tweets and quickly gained thousands of followers, without the President knowing who was behind it.

The account argues against climate change denial, promotes the upcoming science march and speaks openly against the President.

The Trump team agreed to temporarily halt its plan to scrub the Environmental Protection Agency website, but uncertainty lingers over its future.

The unidentified climate change campaigners behind the account have spoken openly about the President, joking that there were "reports of an unidentified orange haired mammal close to President’s Park".

Twitter is the only authority on whether this account will continue.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in