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AltWatcher

@altwatcher.bsky.social

2.5K followers 500 following 800 posts

The alt account of @jjoycelynch.bsky.social, where I keep an eye on "Alt" US Govt. accounts, and one account in particular. For more of my writing on this subject: https://substack.com/home/post/p-161500621

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · Aug 1

The Alt National Park Service has spent months stealing from journalists, directly plagiarizing the work of others more than a hundred times.

With more than 4.3 million followers on Facebook and nearly 900k here on Bluesky, they've built a massive following on theft.

The "Alt National Park Service:" On Plagiarism, Part 1

The first in a three-part series.

jjoycelynch.substack.com

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 12h

I'm going to call it here for now (I'm tired and need some dinner), but I'll pick this up in another thread.

Take a look at the article if you want some nice light reading about online plagiarism before bed.

The "Alt National Park Service:" On Plagiarism, Part 4

A series of pivots, and a glimpse at the future.

open.substack.com

AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 12h

Even if they aren't using AI here (and I obviously can’t prove that they are), there's no explanation for this that makes AltNPS look good. Either they were so sloppy that they couldn't even get the name of the article right, or they deliberately changed the headline to try to hide their plagiarism.

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 12h

No specific publication date, just “July 2025.” (It should be July 18th)

No author. (It's Mark Lieberman)

Unnecessary description of the outlet.

Unnecessary summary of the article.

And the real article has a completely different headline:

www.edweek.org/policy-polit...

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 12h

Later that same day, AltNPS posted a thread about K-12 afterschool programs clawing back funding that had been frozen by the Trump admin, and cited the teaching industry publication Education Week.

EdWeek did publish an article about this, but you’d never find it by using AltNPS’s citation.

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 12h

When I posted about the phantom Bloomberg article, @personalbeavis.bsky.social and @comradeishmael.bsky.social both noted the AI weirdness of AltNPS's citation. The awkward summary, the odd formatting.

And once you see the telltale signs of AI in AltNPS’s posts, you can’t unsee it.

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 12h

There's a SIMILAR article from the same outlet, if having a different headline and being published on a different date counts as "similar."

But if someone wanted to read about this important change to EPA guidelines, they sure wouldn't get any help from AltNPS's post.

AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · Jul 24

I did find this article, which does mention the 2009 regulation. But it's under a different title, and was published on a different date.

So if someone wanted to, say, read this important article for themselves, they'd have to dig through Bloomberg for an article that seemed close enough.

Trump Radically Overhauls EPA Mission, Scope in First Six Months

Just six months into his second term, President Donald Trump has moved quickly to reshape the Environmental Protection Agency in ways not seen over its 55-year history, drastically restructuring offic...

news.bloomberglaw.com

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 12h

On July 23rd, AltNPS posted about proposed changes to EPA guidelines, and ended their post with a list of sources. In theory, this was exactly what I was asking for.

The problem is that this article doesn’t exist.

AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · Jul 24

Again, I'm glad AltNPS is providing sources. But they're only posting actual links some of the time, which is an issue.

For example, I can't find this article from Bloomberg Law. Look for yourself:

news.bloomberglaw.com/environment-...

Alt National Park Service: "Sources: - Bloomberg Law - “EPA Considering Overturning Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding”, July 18, 2025. Source: Legal news report; confirms that a document titled 'Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding and Motor Vehicle Reconsideration Rule' is under review at the Office of Management and Budget."

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 12h

By saying that after all this time, they're going to start providing sources, they get to spin the narrative. They're not DISHONEST for stealing, they're GENEROUS for stopping.

In the end, this announcement meant nothing, because AltNPS continued to find new and innovative ways to steal.

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 12h

I’ve mentioned before that the user behind AltNPS demonstrate a level of legitimate marketing and PR skill, and this is a good example of that. This announcement, which came after months of stealing from news sites over a hundred times, is above all else a clever way to avoid accountability.

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 12h

But naturally, AltNPS values transparency. That’s why, earlier THAT SAME MORNING, they had promised to start providing sources. To “push back against misinformation,” you see.

AltNPS promising to "include more sources so you can use our posts to push back against misinformation."

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 12h

Instead, we got this post the next day, where AltNPS ripped off PBS Newshour, got called on it, and banished their critics to Hidden Replies.

Obvious stealing. Transparently dishonest. They hadn't changed a bit.

AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · Jul 13

Ok, or maybe AltNPS hasn't changed at all lol

"Photo credit to an undisclosed source." Yes, an undisclosed source who sent this photo TO PBS NEWS, not the Secret Agent Park Rangers.

Shoutout to @knives.motorcycles, who also has the most radical bsky handle I've ever seen

knives @knives.motorcycles · Jul 12

PBS newshour?

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 12h

Back in July, AltNPS shocked me specifically by posting an actual link.

I had hoped this would be the start of an upward trend for the account. Maybe they'd change their ways, and slowly become something less harmful.

AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · Jul 11

AltNPS...cited a source. They posted a link. A real link!

I don't know what to do with myself. Am I free?

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 13h

But because that article was so short, I still had a lot to talk about, and it all ended up here.

This one is BY FAR my longest at around 3,300 words, so this might be a long thread. Let's get started.

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 13h

The last article I posted ended up being shorter than I had planned. When I noticed that AltNPS had removed the word "suicide" from an article they stole (presumably to avoid their post's reach being limited), I was so floored that I just wanted to get that it out there.

It hit close to home.

AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · Sep 8

Before sitting down to write this, I thought this would be my last article about AltNPS’s plagiarism, and that I’d cover the rest in a single, extra-long sprint.

But as I read and reread the passages AltNPS stole, one detail jumped out at me, and that detail deserved an article all its own.

The "Alt National Park Service:" On Plagiarism, pt. 3

AltNPS digs to dark new depths.

open.substack.com

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 13h

It's finally up! Time to talk about the last three months of plagiarism and deflection by the Alt National Park Service.

tl;dr AltNPS is flailing desperately for ways to cling to their manufactured image as a government insider, in ways that show that they're in too deep to change.

The "Alt National Park Service:" On Plagiarism, Part 4

A series of pivots, and a glimpse at the future.

open.substack.com

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 14h

The video, which AltNPS will not be providing, is apparently worth watching. Thank goodness we have real activists like the Alt National Park Service to keep the public informed.

Alt National Park Service: Stephen Miller just said the quiet part out loud claiming that Trump has plenary authority when it comes to deploying troops. (Plenary means full authority.) After making the statement, he froze completely, like a deer in headlights. The video is worth watching.

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 15h

I love it when meme pages are more up-to-date than AltNPS, that probably bodes well

A meme of an insane skeleton man screaming and pointing two guns at the camera, with the caption "LISTEN UP LIBERAL, HAVE YOU SEEN MY KEYS I LOST THEM AGAIN." Hell yeah börther

AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 20h

And while this reply could very well be tongue in cheek, it wouldn't surprise me if it was serious!

By getting the details wrong about this law, AltNPS has opened the door for people to speculate that a commemorative coin means that Trump could secretly be dead or dying.

Alt National Park Service: The Trump administration plans to mint a $1 coin featuring Trump’s image, yet another illegal move. This violates the 1866 law, which states that only deceased individuals may appear on U.S. currency.

A commenter, whose name is redacted, replies, "do they know something?"

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 20h

Very quick thread:

This post is a good example of why "news aggregation" accounts can be a problem. The 1866 law that AltNPS mentions doesn't state that only deceased people can appear on currency, it says that a president can only appear on currency if they've been dead for at least TWO YEARS.

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 21h

This was reported by Kit Maher at CNN on 10/3/25, four days before AltNPS reposted it without attribution.

www.cnn.com/2025/10/03/b...

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 1d

But they went quiet during the Biden years, and when they re-emerged after Trump's reelection, they were a whole different beast. Fake codes, weird "poetry," and CONSTANT stealing from news sites.

I think they're coasting off of a lot of residual goodwill from 2017-18.

AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 1d

Back during Trump's first term, they were VERY different. It was much less about QAnon-style "codes" and plagiarism and much more about #resist memes and merch. Back then, they were a lot more explicit about being a sticker and T-shirt operation.

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 1d

Oh I didn't mean that you did anything wrong! You're doing great, I was just complaining about AltNPS lol

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 1d

This was reported, with suspiciously similar wording, by Reuters at 10:51 AM CDT, about ninety minutes before AltNPS reposted it without attribution.

www.reuters.com/world/illino...

Alt National Park Service: After the Portland ruling, Illinois is now taking action. The state filed a lawsuit today seeking to block the Trump administration from deploying federalized National Guard troops on the streets of Chicago.

Reuters: Oct 6 (Reuters) - Illinois filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to block U.S. President Donald Trump from deploying hundreds of federalized National Guard troops into the streets of Chicago.

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AltWatcher @altwatcher.bsky.social · 1d

Hey Ziggy, I come in peace, but this thread doesn't help inform people about the raids. AltNPS doesn't even mention that the raids happened in Chicago, nor do they say who was affected or how to help.

They dramatize and editorialize to spice it up, but don't bother including any of the facts.

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