How the right dominated the discussion of George Floyd’s killing online

From Candace Owens to Ben Shapiro, conservative commentators saw huge engagement on Facebook around George Floyd

The police killing of George Floyd ignited grassroots activism, with demonstrators taking to the streets from New York to Los Angeles over the death of the 46-year-old Black man in Minneapolis.

It also sparked a flurry of activity on social media that continues a year after Mr Floyd’s untimely death. From apolitical Instagram users who suddenly flooded their feeds with calls to defund the police, to conservatives who rejected the notion that America is a systemically racist nation, social media has been the platform of choice during a year when the Black Lives Matter movement gripped the collective consciousness.

According to data from the social media analytics firm NewsWhip, several major broadcasters including ABC News, NBC News and CNN were among the top 10 Facebook pages by interactions on the subject of Mr Floyd. Other more overtly partisan accounts, such as Fox News, Candace Owens, Ben Shapiro and Franklin Graham also made the cut, with Fox coming in at No 1 with around 9 million interactions. The nonpartisan NowThisNews page ranked No 2 with more than 5 million interactions.

While at least one left-leaning Facebook page (OccupyDemocrats) was among the most engaged with around Mr Floyd, conservatives dominated the list. Engagement on Facebook – meaning comments, likes, shares and so on – can of course be for positive or negative reasons, and do not necessarily show users condoning the content they are reacting to. But regardless the data shows that the case of Mr Floyd led to massive engagement over the last year.

Ms Owens’ most engaged-with post was a viral video titled “Confession: I DO NOT support George Floyd and I refuse to see him as a martyr. But I hope his family receives justice”, posted on 3 June 2020, days after Mr Floyd’s killing. In the video, Ms Owens ticked through Mr Floyd’s criminal history, using his past infractions as evidence that he should not be made a martyr.

“George Floyd was not an amazing person. George Floyd is being upheld as an amazing human being,” she said in the video, which garnered nearly 4 million interactions on Facebook alone.

Outrageous and inflammatory posts drive engagement, and Ms Owens offers plenty to her audience.

“Content that is written in an inflammatory way, that is constructed to drive emotion is often what we see bubbling up in the social networks,” professor Brent Kitchens of the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce told The Independent.

Mr Kitchens observed that content that pushes right up to the line of what’s acceptable tends to drive the most engagement on social media.

“The incentive is to push all the way up to the line so that it gets the most bang for the buck,” he said.

Ms Owens’ unorthodox perspective may also help explain her social media success.

“How many Black women do you have saying these atrocious things about George Floyd publicly?” asked Danielle K Kilgo, a professor at the University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

“Novelty is key. If people have never heard this story, they share it more, engage more,” she told The Independent.

Mr Shapiro’s most engaged-with post didn’t even feature commentary from the conservative pundit himself. But it did feature a prominent public official making an ill-advised, off-hand remark.

He posted a video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi thanking Mr Floyd for “sacrificing your life for justice” after the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. The comment was quickly condemned on both the right and left, and Mr Shapiro’s post garnered more than 350,000 interactions on Facebook.

In an example of conservative cross-promotion, Ms Owens’ viral video on Mr Floyd was also one of Mr Shapiro’s most engaging posts on Facebook, with about 150,000 interactions on his own page.

Mr Graham, a prominent evangelical preacher, shared his thoughts on the sometimes violent protests that broke out in the wake of Mr Floyd’s death in a Facebook post that garnered more than 800,000 interactions. In the post, Mr Graham called Mr Floyd’s death a “terrible tragedy”. But he also defended President Trump’s stroll to St John’s Episcopal Church on 1 June 2020, during which federal law enforcement violently cleared crowds of protesters with tear gas so Mr Trump could stage a photo op with a Bible.

“I was asked if I was offended by the President walking out of the White House, which is his back yard, and walking over to St John’s Church. Offended? Not at all. This made an important statement that what took place the night before in the burning, looting, and vandalism of the nation’s capital – including this historic house of worship – mattered, and that the lawlessness had to end,” Mr Graham said in his post.

The post with the most engagement from OccupyDemocrats was a video of Mr Floyd’s brother calling for an end to violence and rioting on 1 June 2020. The most engaged-with post from NowThis was an emotional video biography of Mr Floyd.

Right-wing commentators have often accused social media companies of “censoring” conservatives. Mr Trump even held an event at the White House during the waning days of his administration focusing on the issue. But the NewsWhip data shows that their concerns appear to be overblown – as conservative accounts dominate on the subject of Mr Floyd.

Ms Kilgo encouraged “careful and considerate sharing” when it comes to social media, as users are bombarded with information across platforms.

“There’s a social responsibility in engaging in posts because users are able to amplify narratives, whether they mean to do so in support or critique of a message,” she said. “Their actions, how they play out in a network, they matter.”