Far-right conspiracies and online engagement: how #StopTheSteal leveraged moral appeals, group identity, and #BlackLivesMatter to capture audience attention on Parler

Abstract

This study explores the strategic spread of conspiracy theories by far-right groups during the “Stop the Steal” election denial rallies, focusing on their online efforts to undermine the Black Lives Matter movement. Based on the Discursive Opportunity Structure framework, we conducted a computer-assisted content analysis of Parler posts (N = 9,714), supplemented with qualitative textual analysis. We analyzed three key messaging strategies that promoted the “Stop the Steal” messages: leveraging hashtags for visibility, making moral appeals to establish legitimacy, and using group identity markers to enhance resonance. Our findings reveal that the integration of in-group identity cues with appeals to moral virtue (morally right), as well as pairing the #BLM hashtag with moral vice (morally wrong), generates greater attention from social media users. We discuss the implications of these findings as reflections of entrenched racism in the post-truth era.