Montclair Social Media Study: Pride Month and LGBTQ Branding Backlash Driven Largely by QAnon and Popular Extremists

In a collaborative study of 68,481 posts on Twitter (recently rebranded as X) from 2022, Montclair State University faculty identified the most influential accounts pushing the narrative that Disney is “grooming” (i.e. sexually manipulating) children by its support and inclusion of the LGBTQ community. The findings are timely as Target and other corporations are scaling back or eliminating Pride Month activities this June, driven by backlash companies have received in recent years.  Data from PR Daily suggests some 30% of consumer goods companies will be making changes to their Pride observances this June based on concerns about this backlash.  As such, this research project offers context for the most influential voices driving social media advocacy against LGBTQ inclusion in the corporate space.

Highlights of the study recently published in the Journal of Crime, Media, and Culture include:

•  The impact of the posts engaged with the most (including comments) were  Jack Posobiec, Mike Cernovich, Donald Trump Jr.,and The Post Millennial.
• The four accounts sharing “inclusion is grooming” content with the greatest reposts and “favorites” also included content from Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Walsh.

• A strong connection to the QAnon conspiracy (that an organized cabal of “elites” is harming children) was identified in the accounts producing the most significant visibility of the message.
• Accounts critical of LGBTQ inclusion that previously shared QAnon sentiment represented:

• 80% of the most followed accounts
• 80% of the accounts with the highest “impact” (total number of posts an account produced on a topic multiplied by the total number of followers)
• 71% of accounts producing the most liked content
• 57% of accounts producing the most shared content

• Total posts on this theme collected from March 13, 2022, to May 16, 2022, netted a total of 322,832,159 potential impressions, driven by the notable accounts identified.
• The full study, which is the seventeenth from the Montclair team at Joetta Di Bella and Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication, is found here.

The study’s authors express concern about the effects of such messages.

“’Grooming’ is a term that extremists and conspiracy theorists have co-opted from the anti trafficking movement, and it’s now being used against the LGBTQ community,” said Dr. Daniela Peterka-Benton, Academic Director of the Global Center on Human Trafficking at Montclair.

According to Dr. Joel Penney, an Associate Professor in the School of Communication and Media at Montclair, this represents an ongoing “model of framing the sheer existence of LGBTQ people as inherently sexualized and thus inappropriate.”

“What seems to be an organic movement against the LGBTQ community appears to be guided by a small number of extremist voices with outsized social media reach,” said Dr. Bond Benton, Professor of Public Relations in the School of Communication and Media and researcher at the Joetta Di Bella and Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication.

About the School of Communication and Media: The School of Communication and Media offers a range of dynamic programs in communication and media to a talented and diverse student population of over 1,800. Offering degrees in film and television, social media and public relations, advertising, journalism and digital media, sports communication, communication and media studies, animation and visual effects, and an MA devoted to strategic communication, the School prepares the next generation of communication and media practitioners and leaders. The School houses award-winning student programs that include WMSC Radio, The Montclarion newspaper,  Hawk Communications Agency, the Red Hawk Sports Network, Hawk+ OTT streaming platform, and News Lab, as well as the Center for Cooperative Media, which serves the public by working to grow and strengthen local journalism. Student projects and programs have recently received national recognition from PRSSA’s Bateman Competition, an Edward R Murrow Award, several Marconi Award nominations, and a College Television Award from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

About the Global Center on Human Trafficking: The Global Center on Human Trafficking is a multi-disciplinary effort focused on developing innovative solutions to the global problem of human trafficking. Montclair State University, one of the most diverse higher education institutions in the United States, has a history of supporting social justice and human rights issues affecting communities across the world. It is dedicated to mobilizing collective action to develop novel solutions to the complex problems of human trafficking so that all people may live free from human trafficking.

Contact: Keith Green, School of Communication and Media, 973-655-3701 or greenk@montclair.edu