Document Type

Report

Publication Date

7-26-2025

Journal / Book Title

Joetta Di Bella and Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication

Abstract

A joint social media study from Montclair State University faculty in the Joetta Di Bella and Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication in the College of Communication and Media and the Global Center on Human Trafficking shows a 64% decrease in the total number of posts about human trafficking made by prominent QAnon affiliated and adjacent accounts when compared to the highpoint of such posts in 2023. Results from the study produced by the Center for Strategic Communication and the Global Center on Human Trafficking include a 64% decrease in human trafficking posts from significant QAnon affiliated accounts from 1/1/2025 to 7/20/2025 when compared to the same period in 2023 (the highest volume year of trafficking posts among online conservative voices), a 79% reduction in the total volume of human trafficking posts in the studied accounts between 2023 and 2025, no posts from the QAnon affiliated accounts studied related to proposed cuts to the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (despite such content generating 29.5M potential views from other online sources), and a greater than 50% reduction in views of human trafficking posts for 2025 from all studied QAnon affiliated accounts, indicating potential diminished interest from their respective audiences.

Published Citation

QAnon affiliated accounts are making 64% fewer social media posts about human trafficking. (2025). Joetta Di Bella and Fred C. Sautter III Center for Strategic Communication.

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