It’s all but certain that when social media influencer Dylan Mulvaney posts on Instagram or TikTok, the comments area will explode.
The 27-year-old trans girl, who gained notoriety for her sparkling videos documenting her female transition, has also become a lightning rod for anti-transgender hate. There is plenty of support and encouragement for her.
Mulvaney has become a poster child for the dangers of being a transgender information creator, whether it was the previous year’s partnership with Bud Light that caused a boycott of the once top-selling beer or, more recently, the adverse reaction to a post with popstar Lady Gaga to mark International Women’s Day.
Although the hate directed at Mulvaney may be exacerbated by her significant number of followers (10.4 million on TikTok, 1.7 million on Instagram), her situation isn’t unique.
Fae Johnstone and Lauren Sundstrom are well aware of how quickly their social media posts can turn them into targets for negativity.
Johnstone, an Ottawa-based advocate and writer, and Sundstrom, a Vancouver content creator and fashion influencer, are adamant that they won’t be forced into the social media shadows, which they say is the goal of transphobic commenters and trolls.
However, they think that the anti-2SLGBTQ+ hate may make others reevaluate whether they feel comfortable sharing their lives or growing an online following.
How Bud Light handled the Dylan Mulvaney reaction in a nutshell
Bud Light’s hiring of trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney prompted conservative backlash, but the company’s handling of that backlash led to even more criticism from the 2SLGBTQ+ community.
A storm of love
Johnstone, 28, went through something similar to what Mulvaney endured over the Bud Light partnership.
Hershey’s Canada released limited edition chocolate bars for International Women’s Day this quarter, some of which had Johnstone designs on the backs.
She claimed to CBC News that the threats were severe enough that the chocolate maker hired security guards to be stationed outside her home for six days and that they not only resulted in a “staggering cancel campaign” against her on social media.
The limited edition HER for SHE bar featuring her image was part of a Hershey’s Canada campaign to celebrate International Women’s Day in 2023. (Hershey’s Canada)
She claims that the effort is “to make it so that we’re not visible in public spaces” and to demand that businesses pay a price politically and economically if they support a “marginalized and historically oppressed” community’s human rights.
She acknowledges that the constant barrage of hate can have a ton of impact, even though she only has a limited audience on X, the platform where she was most active, formerly known as Twitter.
Even when she isn’t posting about 2SLGBTQ+ advocacy, like when she recently got married and shared a photo with her spouse, she still receives disparaging and anti-transgender comments.
“Part of the intention here,” she said, “is to make the next trans person more hesitant.”
Utilizing social media to protest
Sundstrom has been creating content exclusively for herself since 2022 and has grown her social media following since 2015.
But when the 34-year-old started receiving anti-trans comments more frequently last year, she fought back with fashion via her “outfit of the day” posts, a trend on TikTok and Instagram.
She said, “It’s just like a fun, kind of goofy way to show the ridiculousness of people visiting my page every day and calling me a man when that’s not true.”
“The haters can’t get to you if you don’t let them.”
However, Sundstrom is aware that not everyone has the support and experience that she and other content creators do.
She worries that younger 2SLGBTQ+ people may not be able to handle the hate that might result from their content being picked up by the social media platform’s algorithm and being viewed by those who “make a hobby” out of hate.
The algorithm shows them more trans videos because they have a habit of hating on trans people, she explained. “It doesn’t matter which social platform you’re on.”
Risk of online hate becoming real-life violence
According to Kristopher Wells, the Canada Research Chair for the Public Understanding of Sexual and Gender Minority Youth at Edmonton’s MacEwan University, there are concerns that if hate against 2SLGBTQ+ people, especially trans people, is left unchecked online, it will lead to real-life risks.
He cited recent protests in the province over provincial policies on gender identity in schools and the University of Waterloo’s stabbing attack last summer, which police described as “a hate-motivated incident related to gender expression and gender identity.”
The risk is significant enough that CSIS, Canada’s intelligence agency, warned last month it could lead to violence against 2SLGBTQ+ people.
Wells is encouraged that the federal government is addressing the hate and vitriol that “is circulating online with virtually impunity” with the recently proposed Online Harms bill.
Critics of the legislation, including author Margaret Atwood and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, argue it could limit freedom of expression.
Wells says it’s not about censoring opinions, but preventing the spread of dehumanizing and traumatizing comments directed at 2SLGBTQ+ people, as well as people of different races and religions.
“We have human rights legislation in Canada for a reason,” he said. “It’s not there to protect the majority. It’s there to protect the minority from exactly these kinds of prejudice and discrimination.”
Fae Johnstone discusses the CSIS warning about transgender anti-transgender movements:
CBC News Network’s Andrew Nichols speaks with trans activist Fae Johnstone
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Need for vocal content creators
Sundstrom and Johnstone both claimed that the majority of the online hate that Sundstrom and Johnstone receive comes from outside the United States, where Canadian laws are ineffective.
They think that social media companies will ultimately need to do more to make a difference.
That doesn’t mean limiting opposing views and uncomfortable conversations, said Johnstone, but letting hate run rampant on social media platforms doesn’t make for a healthy democracy— especially when people have to “pay a personal price” for speaking up.
“It’s an onslaught that never freaking ends,” Johnstone told CBC News.
Despite that, she says she’ll stay online, where she’ll continue to fight for freedom, equality, and justice for the marginalized, for queer and trans people and women.
“I’m staying laser-focused on that.”
Sundstrom says content creators who are active and vocal shouldn’t back down because they may be reluctant to share their opinions and details of their lives on social media due to worries about repercussions.
“Take that with you on the internet and share your message because it will be received by those who need to hear it, if you are confident in your day-to-day life.”
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