Passing of a law called “Gay Speaking” in Florida has increased discrimination against the LGBTQIA+ community in English-language posts on social media.
A new report by the Digital Anti-Hate Center (CCDH) and Human Rights Campaign group showed a 400% increase in false narratives about anti-gay pedophilia circulating in Facebook and Twitter posts.
In practice, the legislation prohibits the teaching of gender and sexual orientation classes in schools up to the third grade. The text sparked controversy and student protests in the US state, but was enacted last month with the support of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.
Extremists use law against LGBTQ education in Florida
The report, titled “Digital Hate: The Role of Social Media in Amplification of Dangerous Lies About LGBTQ+ People,” notes that social media platforms are driving the spread of online prejudice against gay communities.
According to the document, such hate speech increased significantly when the bill began to be discussed at the beginning of the year.
They were also encouraged by extremist politicians and their allies, who launched an “unprecedented and dangerous” anti-LGBTQ+ disinformation campaign with the passage of the text in July.
Since then, the average number of tweets using insults such as “groom”, “predatory” and “pedophile” to refer to LGBTQ+ people has increased 406% in one month after the law passed in Florida.
In total, between January 1 and July 27, we identified 989,547 tweets linking the LGBTQ+ community to such crimes – all based on the lie that gay men sexually abuse or harass children.
According to NGOs, the law has caused a sharp rise in online homophobia and transphobia, which social media platforms have not only managed to crack down on, but also benefit from the spread of sponsored, biased content.
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According to the report, just days after the “Don’t Say Gay” law came into effect, only ten accounts accounted for 66% of the impressions for the 500 most viewed tweets with the term “groom”.
These accounts included Christina Pushaw, the press secretary of Governor Ron DeSantis, extremist members of Congress such as Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, and allies of former President Donald Trump.
Posts from these 10 people alone reached over 48 million views, and the 500 most influential tweets containing the term “care” were viewed 72 million times and received 399,260 likes and retweets.
“The startling visibility these posts have gained is a direct result of Twitter’s failure to enforce its own policies prohibiting anti-LGBTQ+ defamation,” the report said.
Despite Twitter’s “distillation” of its policy against hate speech to refer to gay people, it did not take action against 99% of the 100 discriminatory tweets reported anonymously by CCDH researchers.
Supporting the same narrative on Facebook and Instagram, 59 paid ads were served to users more than 2.1 million times.
“Despite similar policies banning anti-LGBTQ+ hateful content on both social media platforms, only one ad was removed,” NGOs say.
“Online hate and lies reflect and amplify violence and offline hate. Twitter and Meta (Facebook) must take action against anti-LGBTQ+ hate and stop hosting and exploiting these hateful slurs.”
Read the full report (in English) here connection.
Disney has also been the target of anti-LGBTQ attacks
In the month after the law against LGBTQ education in Florida schools passed, the surge in content linking the term “groom” to gay people also targeted Disney.
During the analyzed period, 4,053 tweets per day criticizing the company in homophobic posts were detected – previously there were only 37 daily posts of this type.
Disney has been at the center of the debate over the bill in Florida, as it funds conservative politicians in the state who support the text. Parent protests outside parks in Orlando have pressured the company to reconsider its stance.
Pressure increased when entertainment giant-affiliated studios such as Pixar and Disney Animation revealed that LGBT-themed productions were banned by executives at the parent company.
“Disney has a history of shutting down fan-created LGBT Pride events in parks, and even taking gay couples out to dance together in the 1980s. He reads an excerpt from a letter published by the company’s gay staff.
“At Pixar, we’ve personally witnessed beautiful stories where characters representing Diversity are crumbling into crumbs after corporate criticism. Regardless of any protests by Pixar’s creative or executive leadership teams, nearly every moment of open gay love is interrupted by Disney’s orders.”
Following this move, Disney CEO Mickey Bob Chapek apologized for the company’s actions and donated $5 million to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC).
At the time, the organization refused the money, and Disney said it wouldn’t accept it until it “built a public commitment” to the LGBT community.
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With the change of location, the Mickey Mouse company was hacked on social networks, as seen in the CCDH and HRC report.
The biased posts claimed that the lawmakers “protected pedophiles” and that teaching LGBTQ+ issues in schools amounted to “radical sexual preparation.”
Disney was the target of more than half of Facebook ads with such narratives. On Twitter, the company was mentioned in 345,152 homophobic tweets.
CCDH CEO Imran Ahmed stressed that online hatred has turned into offline aggression. “The spread of anti-LGBTQ+ hatred is taking place as part of a strategy that seeks to dehumanize and fuel fear and violence against gay people.”
“Both Facebook and Twitter are known for algorithmically increasing hate and not taking action on abuse, inauthentic behavior and content that violates their policies.”
“We’re asking Twitter and Meta to take action against anti-LGBTQ+ hate and stop hosting these harmful insults. As we celebrate Pride Month, social media companies that capitalize on dangerous hatred towards LGBTQ+ people should stop talking and take action.”
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source: Noticias
