The National Park service has fallen on Donald Trump’s bad list.
After retweeting two tweets that made fun of Donald Trump’s small inauguration crowd, the verified twitter account @NatlParkService was ordered by its Washington, DC support office to cease all social media activity “until further notice.”
Gizmodo posted an obtained copy of an internal letter sent to National Parks Service employees stating the new social media policy, which states directions to “immediately cease use of government Twitter accounts until further notice.”
The changes only apply to Twitter. As @MountRainierNPS pointed out, the will continue to provide public information via Facebook.
Until further notice, all park road condition updates will provided on the Mount Rainier Facebook page https://t.co/JwFuETkGnM.
— MountRainierNPS (@MountRainierNPS) January 20, 2017
A few days later a new Twitter account was created, @AltNatParkSer, which claims that it is being run by “several active NPS rangers and friends” and is being used to make a stand against Trump’s forced censorship.
Hi @JettGoldsmith This accnt being run by several active NPS rangers and friends.
— AltUSNatParkService (@AltNatParkSer) January 25, 2017
One National Park twitter account, @BadlandsNPS, defied the gag order and continued to tweet facts and information on climate change. The tweets have since been removed, but screen shots can be seen below:
Later, after the tweets were deleted, the National Park Service claimed that the account had been compromised:
The National Park Service tells me those @BadlandsNPS tweets were from a former employee and the account was “compromised.” pic.twitter.com/RfmFSyebdG
— Claudia Koerner (@ClaudiaKoerner) January 25, 2017
Golden Gate National Park Service also defied the Twitter gag order, tweeting an image of global temperatures rising:
2016 was the hottest year on record for the 3rd year in a row. Check out this @NASA & @NOAA report: https://t.co/rLJUC56xqi pic.twitter.com/AKhFzYw6l6
— Golden Gate NPS (@GoldenGateNPS) January 23, 2017
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