Changes

Folta maintains that he is independent of corporate influence and pushes back against reporters and activists who he thinks misrepresent him. GM Watch reported that [[Michael Halpern]] with the Union of Concerned Scientists has tweeted support for Folta that releasing his emails was harassment.<ref>GM Watch, March 26, 2019 accessed April 2019, https://gmwatch.org/en/news/latest-news/18835-why-does-the-union-for-concerned-scientists-keep-vilifying-us-right-to-know</ref>

Journalist Paul Thacker and professor Charles Seife published a post on the PLOS blog. Folta responded to the post, calling it "a breach of journalistic ethics," "false and misleading," a "hit job," and a "vicious blindsiding." Eventually, the post was taken down. Seife responded to that, telling ''Retraction Watch'' "the criticism of our opinion — much of which is inaccurate and inflammatory — is allowed to remain intact, giving an extremely distorted view of what happened. I’m bemused by the hypocrisy of a number of actors in this drama who claim to be fighting a “chilling effect” on public debate and academic freedom while cheerfully silencing a viewpoint they don’t like."<ref>Alison McCook [https://retractionwatch.com/2015/08/24/following-criticism-plos-removes-blog-defending-scrutiny-of-science/ Following criticism, PLOS removes blog defending scrutiny of science] ''Retraction Watch'' August 25, 2015</ref>