Wigington goes, he could be simply after money. . . and attention:

Researchers Hit With Lawsuits for Fact-Checking Climate Claims

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 divulged as a result of the requests are sometimes then used to challenge — or smear — their work and are ultimately intended to muzzle them.

https://www.law.com/2022/09/19/researchers-hit-with-lawsuits-for-fact-checking-climate-claims/?slreturn=20250707100237

The suit was dismissed:

California Federal Court Dismissed Defamation Case Against Climate Scientist Fact Checker. The federal district court for the Eastern District of California granted a climate scientist’s motion to dismiss a defamation action brought by a plaintiff who published a documentary on YouTube and Facebook promoting his belief that there “has been an intentional effort to dim direct sunlight through aircraft-dispersed particles.” In a third-party fact checker’s review of the documentary, the defendant climate scientist referred to the documentary’s claims as “pure fantasy.” The court concluded it did not have personal jurisdiction over the defendant, who was a senior research associate at Cornell University in New York. The court also granted the defendant’s special motion to strike under California’s anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) law and awarded the defendant fees and costs.

https://climatecasechart.com/case/wigington-v-macmartin/