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Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online (buzzfeednews.com) 626

A new movement of teenage climate activists -- most of whom are girls -- are getting dragged, doxed, hacked, and harassed online. Zahra Hirji, reporting for BuzzFeed News: On the morning of August 25, 11-year-old Lilly Platt tweeted a video clip of a Brazilian Amazon tribe speaking out against deforestation. Awareness of the Amazon wildfires was already at a fever pitch, and the tweet exploded. Then, within an hour, a swarm of troll accounts started flooding her mentions with porn. Shortly after the attack, her mom, Eleanor Platt, made an online plea for help: "Dear Friends of Lilly, this is Lillys mum she is being targeted by revolting trolls who are spamming her feed with pornography. There is only so much i can do to block this. Please if you see these posts report them." Over the course of the day, some of Lilly's nearly 10,000 followers did just that.

Young girls like Lilly, who has been striking in her hometown of Utrecht, Netherlands, every Friday for the last year, are overwhelmingly leading a growing global movement to draw attention to the climate crisis. They spurred an estimated 4 million people across seven continents to walk out of work and school on September 20 -- and they are getting attacked for it. They have faced a barrage of daily insults, seemingly coordinated attacks (like the one that targeted Lilly), creepy DMs, doxing, hacked accounts, and death threats. This is the new normal for young climate leaders online, according to BuzzFeed News interviews with nearly a dozen of the kids and their parents.

Personal attacks have always been a part of the climate denial playbook, even as fossil fuel companies secretly funded campaigns and researchers to question the scientific consensus on climate change. The most famous incident, 2009's Climategate, involved scientists getting their emails hacked and then facing death threats. And as the politics of climate change begins to mirror the broader dark trends of global politics, weaponized social media -- in the form of intimidation, memes, and disinformation -- has emerged as the dominant vehicle for climate denial. But the rise of a new climate movement means there's now a much more visible -- and especially vulnerable -- target: kids.

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Trolls Are Swarming Young Climate Activists Online

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  • by Marxist Hacker 42 ( 638312 ) * <seebert42@gmail.com> on Wednesday September 25, 2019 @03:18PM (#59235982) Homepage Journal

    You lost your opportunity to stop climate change 25 years ago. It's now inevitable, and nothing you can do will stop it.

    So the answer is to adapt to it as best you are able.

    • by slack_justyb ( 862874 ) on Wednesday September 25, 2019 @03:37PM (#59236102)

      It's now inevitable, and nothing you can do will stop it.

      That's correct, the best we can do at this point is slow it.

      So the answer is to adapt to it as best you are able

      Which is why we're trying to slow it. Adaptation doesn't happen overnight.

  • by GameboyRMH ( 1153867 ) <gameboyrmh.gmail@com> on Wednesday September 25, 2019 @03:23PM (#59235998) Journal

    Keep up the good work! Greta Thunberg's activism has been so effective that the right is trying to pre-emptively stop the rise of any more like her!

    THE TRIGGERING MEANS IT'S WORKING!

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      Effective at what? Have greenhouse emissions gone down or up?

      • by Nexion ( 1064 )

        Effective at what? Have greenhouse emissions gone down or up?

        Perhaps effective at making them think anything will change.

        On the other hand my coworkers, in California mind you, didn't really care about or discuss much of her display before the UN. Heck, some referred to her as that "shrieking crazed child" without knowing her name. I think most people believe that we need to do more about things like pollution and energy sourcing, but for the most part feel that climate change isn't quite the threat Greta's teachers have convinced her it represents.

      • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Wednesday September 25, 2019 @04:31PM (#59236424)
        Convincing people climate change is real using personable human beings is the place to start. Al Gore did more damage to the cause than the Koch brothers ever did just by being about as likable as a rattlesnake wearing a Hilary Clinton mask.
        • by Etcetera ( 14711 )

          Convincing people climate change is real using personable human beings is the place to start. Al Gore did more damage to the cause than the Koch brothers ever did just by being about as likable as a rattlesnake wearing a Hilary Clinton mask.

          Well, that's the rub. Al Gore is a real human being; minor is a cipher or a symbol ... A human shield that you can't argue with on the merits as you would an adult because they're not expected to have the same faculties as an adult. Take the bait by doing so and you're (arguably) seen as punching down. Fail to do so and their enablers hide their policy ideas behind them. It's a no-win scenario and "your only winning move is not to play."

          Unfortunately, if human shields keep getting used, eventually the argum

    • by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Wednesday September 25, 2019 @04:07PM (#59236296) Journal
      Sad, but true. Our species is capable of so many amazing, wonderful things. But balancing that out is how capable we also are of horrible, stupid, destructive things. But, yes, you're right: it's enflaming the climate change deniers, who are, in their garden-variety trolling, throwing fits like spoiled little children who aren't getting their way and are being told to clean their rooms instead. Waaah, stop liking what I don't like! is basically their behavior.
      No wonder, when we have members of our species who act like that, that starfaring alien civilizations won't contact us openly; they're embarassed for us, no doubt, and likely rather disgusted by us. We need to do better.
    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Calydor ( 739835 )

      I feel that the only thing Greta is doing is saying the exact things we've all known for decades: Stop polluting.

      But she offers no solutions. No plans. No ideas. Just "I have realized something bad is happening and I want SOMEONE ELSE to fix it!"

      And the problem with this whole mess is that even the private people who do something are constantly told it's not enough. Do more. Do better. Feel guilty. All while massive international corporations wrap watermelons individually in plastic and destroy any and all

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Dunbal ( 464142 ) *

        I feel that the only thing Greta is doing is saying the exact things we've all known for decades: Stop polluting.

        I don't pollute. I've never thrown my trash on the ground. Certainly I've never dumped trash in a river or an ocean. I try not to waste water or electricity. I certainly don't consider myself rich enough to throw good food away. I don't live a life of excess. But wait - none of this seems to matter. So what people like Greta are really saying is "stop being alive". Fair enough. The fewer people we are, the smaller the environmental footprint of humanity. It's a valid point. But allow me to say: you first.

      • But she offers no solutions. No plans. No ideas.

        She's 16 years old. She hasn't finished high school. Give her a few years to get an education before expecting plans from her. Anything she'd come up with now would be stupid anyway.

        FWIW, here's my plan (please poke holes, I suspect there are plenty): A carbon tax based on the following assumptions:

        1. The goal is to internalize the carbon emissions externality going forward. There's no reasonable way to assess fees for carbon already emitted, so we just assume that's water under the bridge and tha

    • Keep up the good work! Greta Thunberg's activism has been so effective that the right is trying to pre-emptively stop the rise of any more like her! THE TRIGGERING MEANS IT'S WORKING!

      Hysterical emotional appeals discredit the movement, undermine it, make it easier to dismiss outside the bubble. Stick to real scientists offering real science and real data. Hysterical celebrities and children won't make it happen. The scientists might.

      • Science without political action would amount to nothing but improving our understanding of our unimpeded demise.

    • by jwhyche ( 6192 )

      Greta's little rant has done far more harm than good. People are focusing on the message and not the message. Plus her little rant was so far from the truth that it damages the whole environmental movement. The world isn't going to end in 10 years and nobody took her child hood away.

      Crap like that destroys what little credibility we already have.

  • by Dallas May ( 4891515 ) on Wednesday September 25, 2019 @03:23PM (#59236000)

    "A new movement of teenage climate activists -- most of whom are girls -- are getting dragged, doxed, hacked, and harassed online by conservative men".

    Fixed it for you.

  • by bev_tech_rob ( 313485 ) on Wednesday September 25, 2019 @03:24PM (#59236006)

    ....soon enough......may it burn up in the fiery pit of Hell.

    • I don't get how now half the online "news" you read is just some blogger posting shit they read on Twitter. It's insane.

      Twitters problems would be solved by charging $5 a year for a twitter account, but gotta keep pimping those fake eyeball views on ads...

  • by DogDude ( 805747 ) on Wednesday September 25, 2019 @03:39PM (#59236124)
    Science denialists of all types are all over the Net. Even the places (like Slashdot) that have formerly been full of relatively intelligent, reasonable people are being crap-flooded. I really don't know what to think about it. They're either paid trolls, or the Net is perhaps making people stupid and belligerent, or maybe the Net just allows the stupid and belligerent than have always been among us, to interact with polite society. Whatever the reason is, I find myself spending less and less time interacting with other people online.
    • Your mistake is thinking Slashdot was ever full of relatively intelligent, reasonable people. I've been around a loong, loong time (this isn't my first account) and it never was. It did used to be more libertarian leaning back in the day whereas now it's more left dominated with a handful of far right weirdos in the mix.
      • by HiThere ( 15173 )

        I don't think you're quite correct, but it used to be more technocratic utopian, and those folks have pretty much vanished. Remember Stallman's "Right to Read" being scoffed at?

    • by Uecker ( 1842596 )

      In the last couple of years the science deniers have realized that they are not alone with their opinions. This makes the difference.

  • There is only so much i can do to block this.

    You can turn the phone/device off. Maybe teach her how to make cookies, or the like. Anything else is wrestling a pig.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Greta Thunberg is a younger, more vulnerable Cindy Sheehan, and like Sheehan will be discarded as soon as she’s no longer of use. In the meantime, her moral theatrics grow tedious [thesun.co.uk].

    She's also the latest human shield the alarmists have found to champion their causes. Let's call it what it is: child exploitation and abuse

  • by DatbeDank ( 4580343 ) on Wednesday September 25, 2019 @03:45PM (#59236168)

    That mother is probably the same type of mother who also gave her kid a smartphone with full internet access.

      Maybe she should be a better parent and keep your 11 year old off of social media, especially Twatter.
    You know, because the internet is filled with trolls and porn and at 11 fucking years her kid is clearly not ready for all of the
    crap that is out there.

    16 at best, 13 at a minimum FFS. If they're smart enough to bypass your parental locks and filters, then let them on. Frankly, I doubt Lilly has the capabilities to do so and she should spend more time playing outside, with dolls, coding, or whatever the hell 11 year old are doing these days.

    • by crgrace ( 220738 )

      Yes, you're right. It's the mother's fault. Not the jerks who are attacking children because of their beliefs.

      Like another poster said, the mother should be teaching her to make cookies, not try to spread awareness that adults have F'ed up the world and are continuing to F up the world that she and others her age will have to live with.

  • If people don't want kids to be the targets of this kind of stuff then stop putting your kids on the world stage behind which you hide. They are not your human shields and when you treat them as such you can't complain about the damage. Calling her "mentally ill" is not a jab at her Asbergers. It is a jab at the lunacy she spouted on a world stage, crying about how her childhood has been stolen. Her childhood has indeed been stolen, but by her parents that fed her this doom and gloom crap that has clearly
  • by DarkLordBelial ( 4474205 ) on Wednesday September 25, 2019 @03:52PM (#59236220)

    From https://twitter.com/en/tos [twitter.com]

    "In any case, you must be at least 13 years old, or in the case of Periscope 16 years old, to use the Services."

    Has twitter enforced its policy and closed her account yet?

    • From https://twitter.com/en/tos [twitter.com]

      "In any case, you must be at least 13 years old, or in the case of Periscope 16 years old, to use the Services."

      Has twitter enforced its policy and closed her account yet?

      I don't know that she is using the service as defined in the TOS, how do you know? Her mother is quoted as saying that "There is only so much i can do to block this.", which entails that she has at least some control of the account.

  • Social media are neither social nor are they a media. It's just a huge nonsensical pile of crap. Get over it and protect your children from it. You wouldn't let an 11 years old go to the nearest bar full of drunkards, why would you let them go on the worst the web has to offer?

  • not necessarily the trolls themselves either. More like the "Won't someone rid me of this meddlesome priest" kind. There's lots of YouTubers going on about that girl Greta. A lot of those YouTubers have advertisers and funding that can be traced back to big oil concerns.

    Yeah, yeah, tin foil hate and all that. But as Gore Vidal said, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I'm a conspiracy analyst. It's not like it's hard to see this stuff, a little googling and you can find who funds who.
  • Whew! For a minute there I thought they didn't have any moral ground to stand on . . .
  • by sinij ( 911942 ) on Wednesday September 25, 2019 @04:13PM (#59236334)
    Why is anyone just 11 years old is on social media without parental supervision? The same parents that would freak out if they see kid walking home alone have no problem with unleashing social media on their kids. This is like letting your kid play with parked motorcycles outside biker's bar at midnight, only bikers probably would show more restraint toward a kid than online trolls.
  • by Koreantoast ( 527520 ) on Wednesday September 25, 2019 @04:15PM (#59236346)
    Harassment of activists is nothing new, it happened before the Internet. Those who challenge the system are met with harassment, threats, and actual physical violence. In recent history, look at the LGBT movement, the Black Civil Rights Movement, labor rights, and other protests. No one should be surprised by any of it - for better or worse, this is how the game is played.

    That said, what is new is that the Internet and social media have made it easier for newer, younger activists to emerge, especially teenagers, driven even more visibly by individuals who have gone viral. Perhaps those teenagers, and their parents, didn't initially appreciate just how sharp the responses would be or how slowly providers could respond to them. These same technology tools have also enabled mobilization of the same harassment to a whole new level.

    Yet most notably, social media and the Internet has enabled the broader public to better see upfront how ugly the clashes truly are. In the past, you'd have to get lucky with a journalist snapping the right photo or video, but even then, you may not fully grasp the level of vitriol in these kind of clashes. Social media also allows that vitriol to be captured and spread virally as well, feeding the outrage machine on all sides.

A person with one watch knows what time it is; a person with two watches is never sure. Proverb

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