{"id":219700,"date":"2022-11-29T16:10:54","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T21:10:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/?p=219700"},"modified":"2022-12-02T10:13:05","modified_gmt":"2022-12-02T15:13:05","slug":"study-use-of-groomer-hate-speech-increased-on-twitter-after-colorado-springs-nightclub-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/2022\/11\/29\/study-use-of-groomer-hate-speech-increased-on-twitter-after-colorado-springs-nightclub-shooting\/","title":{"rendered":"Study: Use of \u2018Groomer\u2019 Hate Speech Increased on Twitter After Colorado Springs Nightclub Shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/school-of-communication-and-media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2022\/11\/Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ-State-Study-Post-Amnesty-Twitter-Outlook-and-Spike-in-Grooming-Terms.pdf\">A new study<\/a> by the Joetta Di Bella and Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication in the School of Communication and Media at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ points to what hate speech on Twitter could look like following Elon Musk\u2019s offer of \u201cgeneral amnesty\u201d to suspended accounts on the platform.<\/p>\n<p>Specifically, the study showed a dramatic spike in the use of the term \u201cgrooming\u201d (a slur used against the LGBTQ+ community) on Twitter in the period after the shooting at an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on November 19-20. <em>(See key findings below)<\/em>.<\/p>\n<h2>How \u2018groomer\u2019 is misused as an anti-LGBTQ slur<\/h2>\n<p>&#8220;Grooming,&#8221; as defined by the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN), is &#8220;manipulative behaviors that the abuser uses to gain access to a potential victim, coerce them to agree to the abuse, and reduce the risk of being caught.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Historically, it\u2019s been used as a dehumanizing slur to target, criminalize and ostracize the marginalized LGBTQIA+ community through the construction of fictional predators harming youth. Two contemporary events \u2013 the QAnon conspiracy and the discourse surrounding Florida\u2019s &#8220;Parental Rights in Education&#8221; bill (popularly known as \u201cDon\u2019t Say Gay\u201d) \u2013 echo this messaging.<\/p>\n<p>As the danger of the term was more understood, social media platforms began to limit its use, including restrictions on Twitter which banned the use when directed at trans and non-binary people as an anti-LGBTQ+ slur. However, when Elon Musk took over as CEO of the platform, promising a reduction in \u201cwoke\u201d restrictions on expression, users on the site anticipated a reduction in these sorts of constraints and an opportunity to more openly share hate content.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Highlights from the study on the use of the term \u201cgrooming\u201d on Twitter:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>112,140 tweets used the term \u201cgrooming\u201d or \u201cgroomer\u201d in the seven-day period around the attack in Colorado Springs.<\/li>\n<li>The spike in usage of the term \u201cgrooming\u201d or \u201cgroomer\u201d peaked after the attack with an increase of 885% over the highest point prior to the shooting.<\/li>\n<li>Potential impact for the \u201cgroomer\u201d tweets studied was 599,575,603 with a potential reach of 390,207,542.<\/li>\n<li>Content gaining traction in terms of impact and reach included messages rationalizing physical violence in connection with this slur.<\/li>\n<li>Opposing content also gained a large share of voice, with many accounts and tweets opposing the slur attaining significant platform presence.<\/li>\n<li>There was greater negative sentiment toward use of the term \u201cgroomer\u201d than positive sentiment, as negative sentiment toward the term was 27.6% while positive sentiment was only 9.8% in the tweets analyzed in this study.<\/li>\n<li>Key influencers on discussions surrounding the topic reveal a range of figures who reinforced linkages between the LGBTQIA+ community and \u201cgrooming.\u201d These included accounts of those such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, Blaire White, Tim Pool, Matt Walsh and Jack Posobiec.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The data collected demonstrates the tensions that Twitter will navigate between content restriction and platform openness.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe all understand the importance of freedom of speech, but there are dangers to running platforms like Twitter as a \u2018free speech absolutist,\u2019\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/experts\/dr-bond-benton\/\">Bond Benton<\/a>, associate professor in the School of Communication and Media. \u201cIt is troubling that every time there is a hate-fueled crime, those with extreme views may remain unchecked and will and have a place to spread hate speech and associated terms that demonstrate a lack of common sense, decency and compassion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/school-of-communication-and-media\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2022\/11\/Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ-State-Study-Post-Amnesty-Twitter-Outlook-and-Spike-in-Grooming-Terms.pdf\">The Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ study<\/a> was conducted by faculty Bond Benton, Yi Lu, Jin-A Choi, Keith Strudler and Keith Green from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/school-of-communication-and-media\/stratcomm\/\">Joetta Di Bella and Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication<\/a>, which provides social media analytics tools and training for faculty and students for classroom learning and research projects.<\/p>\n<p>For more information or to set up an interview, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/contact-media-relations\/\">contact the Media Relations team at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/\/ Output tags as a list for Google Analytics custom dimension\nwindow.MSU_TagList = [\"Research Scholarship and Creative Activity\"];\n<\/script>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Findings points to impact of CEO Musk\u2019s \u2018general amnesty\u2019 on the social media platform<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":219701,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,7,111],"tags":[446],"class_list":["post-219700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-communication-and-media","category-press-releases","category-research","tag-research-scholarship-and-creative-activity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/270"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219700"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219721,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219700\/revisions\/219721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}