Climate Fact-Checkers Inundated with Lawsuits, Records Requests

Social media savvy climate scientists have something else to worry about beside the fallout from rising global temperatures.

A loose coalition of conspiracy theorists, libertarians and conservative groups—some with fossil-fuel ties—have gone after those who have provided fact-checks used to counter misleading claims circulating on sites such as Facebook and TikTok.

The climate researchers, who often volunteer their time, have faced lawsuits designed to drain resources and dissuade their work as well as requests seeking voluminous records from the public institutions that employ them— a tool often used by journalists and others to investigative public agencies. The researchers say the public records that are ...