The mercury continues to rise inexorably. Europe, Asia and North America have been suffering from extreme heat for the past few days. From California to China, several regions had to be placed on red alert. “Lies”, “distortion of reality” or even “misleading data”, retort on social networks some Internet users, questioning the word of scientists. Supporting evidence, these accounts claim that global warming and the current drought in Europe are completely “bogus”.
The hashtag #droughtmyass has thus been widely relayed in recent hours, ranking this Tuesday in the top 5 French trends on Twitter. Thousands of messages, with photos and videos as illustrations, explain that the current temperatures are completely normal, and denounce “an instruction to talk about an international heat wave”.
Increasingly “red” weather maps?
These climatosceptic accounts base their argument in particular on the fact that the weather maps are misleading, and artificially reddened in order to cause panic among people. They thus explain that the temperatures would not have increased, but that it is the maps of the weather forecasts which would be today “increasingly red”.
Several posts advancing this theory have been massively retweeted, such as a German map showing two images from weather reports, one in green from 2017 with temperatures ranging from 20 to 37°, and the other in red from 2022 with a thermometer ranging from 19 to 32°. There is of course no manipulation, as demonstrated some fact-checking sites. The German show that aired these maps “has two map formats for displaying the weather: one that uses shades of red and focuses only on temperature, and another that uses green for a general forecast. “.
Other climate-skeptical Internet users, more down to earth, explain that there is no drought, because it has rained a lot at home in recent weeks. “My 85-litre rainwater collector full despite the asymptomatic #drought”, tweeted a user, photo in support. Others have also posted photos of well-filled streams or streams. “Here is the Aude river which passes through my commune. Usually, at this time of year, it is three times lower and we see the bottom and the fish,” wonders this other Internet user, for whom the current drought is a pure invention. Again, many scientists have demonstrated why this argument did not hold up. “Climate skeptics play on two definitions: agricultural drought, and groundwater drought”, explains in particular on Twitter Serge Zaka, agro-climatologist specialized in the impact of climate change.
Climate specialists “targeted”
Like him, many meteorologists and climate specialists try daily to respond to these false claims, but the conspiratorial comments are more numerous every day. And the exchanges quickly turn to online harassment, insults and threats. “After receiving (literally) thousands of insults from unscrupulous accounts of science, the model prediction uttered two days ago has proven to be perfectly accurate. Once again. Thank you to the scientists who hold on to this network,” explains Serge Zaka, who has been systematically targeted since the start of the heat wave, like many of his colleagues. To avoid exposing themselves, some now prefer not to express themselves on social networks.
Climatosceptic accounts are gaining momentum on social networks. According to a CNRS study published in March 2023, these climatosceptic networks are well organized, and have been particularly active for several months on Twitter. “Their objective is to sow doubt about the reality of climate change, and to slow down all actions aimed at reducing humanity’s footprint on the climate”, explains the study, which identified “about 10,000 Twitter accounts” problematic. Among them, many automated accounts, “bots” with a rate “nearly three times higher than that of other communities”.