Twitter has suspended the account of a second global warming sceptic for use of the word ‘crap’, despite his opponent using the same word in a debate on global temperatures on the social media network. Tom Nelson is the second sceptic to have his account suspended in recent weeks. (h/t WUWT)
In an email to Anthony Watts of the Watts Up With That blog, Nelson explains that, in late March, he posted a graph showing historic global temperatures.
Climate change advocate Gavin Schmidt (@ClimateofGavin) responded, calling the graph “crap”. Nelson replied with another graph depicting “the mother of all hockey sticks” (a reference to the infamous and widely debunked hockey stick graph which shows a massive and unprecedented increase in global temperatures in the most recent decades), asking “is this graph crap too?”
“Today, April 1, Twitter informed me that my account was “locked” until I deleted this tweet”, Nelson told Watts. “Twitter then unlocked my account. After I posted the “Delete tweet” screen shot above, I was suspended. If calling a graph “crap” is grounds for suspension, why isn’t @ClimateofGavin suspended?”
Nelson’s account remains suspended at time of writing. He is now tweeting at an alternative account.
The suspension follows the suspension of the account of Nelson’s fellow sceptic Steve Goddard just over a week ago. “I tried to make a tweet around 8 am, and it failed to go through,” Goddard told the Daily Caller. “Then a message appeared at the top of my Twitter account, saying that my account had been suspended for ‘violation of Twitter rules.’
“I have never violated any Twitter rules, and Twitter has failed to respond to my requests to provide any details,” Goddard said.
Twitter does not disclose the reasons for suspension of accounts to third parties, so the reason for the suspension was never uncovered. Goddard’s account was later restored after sceptics took to the platform to demand his account be reinstated.
Ironically, the last tweet Goddard sent out before having his account taken off-line read: “After taking power, progressives changed their motto from ‘always question authority’ to ‘it is illegal to question authority.’”