Material ranging from the apocalyptic to global conspiracies being used to try to sway Australians’ votes in postal survey

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Australians are being targeted on Facebook with homophobic and misleading information around the same-sex marriage postal survey, with material ranging from the apocalyptic to global conspiracies.

In part two of Guardian Australia’s investigation into the hidden campaign around the marriage equality survey, readers have sent in examples of sponsored Facebook posts they have seen.

A sponsored post is advertising via a Facebook post that appears in the news feed to a specifically targeted pool of people. Facebook advertising is considered to be effective because it allows for specific messaging to be fed to a finely combed audience.

Homophobia hits home: readers expose ugly side of same-sex marriage campaign Read more

Sponsored posts can also be hidden from the general public. This tactic was seen throughout the Trump campaign and was believed to have contributed to his victory in the 2016 election.



A targeted Facebook ad will hit a user’s news feed based on the selected variables the advertiser decides to appoint. These include demographics such as age, sex and gender as well as geolocation and interests. Interests are determined by the Facebook pages you interact with or “like”. Facebook users can also be targeted based on their relationship status or political views.

Multiple readers reported being shown sponsored posts from Facebook page This is Christian Australia.



One of the posts contained a video saying Australia would experience an earthquake as “divine retribution for the sins of gays”, with the accompanying text saying:

Australia is going to be punished by the Lord as a retribution of the sins of the Gays. Legalising same-sex marriage makes us more wicked than Sodom and Gomorrah. Vote No to SSM.

Another sponsored post read “gay parenting harms children”. The post links to an excerpt from a book by David van Gend, who is president of The Australian Marriage Forum.



The reader who flagged the post said the arguments in the excerpt rely on “debunked studies”, which is consistent with recent reviews of research that show children with LGBTI parents are no worse off than those with heterosexual parents.

Conservative Christians’ anti-marriage equality lines ‘betray gospel of grace’, says reverend Read more

Additionally, same-sex couples are already legally able to adopt children, so arguments about parenting are not directly relevant. Some of the sponsored posts come from pages that already have thousands of likes and followers. At the other end of the scale is one page that reportedly put out a sponsored post, but has almost no actual people associated with it, with only one like and three followers.

Aside from sponsored posts, readers also submitted examples of misleading material being shared on Facebook organically.

The Australian Conservatives, Senator Cory Bernardi’s party, shared an image of Hungarian businessman and philanthropist George Soros with the text:

Stop the globalist agenda. Vote No.

Australian Conservatives share an anti-George Soros, anti-same sex marriage message Photograph: Facebook

Soros has been the target of several right-wing, anti-semitic conspiracy theories, but it is not clear exactly how same-sex marriage in Australia relates to this.

At least two other anti same-sex marriage pages have linked the vote to another right-wing conspiracy theory, cultural Marxism.

Australian Christian Lobby not worried about marriage campaign vilification law Read more

Many readers took issue with a Facebook post from the Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher, which listed five reasons not to vote for same-sex marriage, saying the vote would affect freedom of speech, religion, education, association and employment.

The post attracted many comments, with several pointing out the vote would not affect any of these things: “Come on Archbishop, you know that the vote is not about any of these things. As a trained lawyer you must understand that changing the definition of marriage in the Marriage Act does not affect any of these freedoms. Please don’t be dishonest with the public.”

We only received one submission involving a pro same-sex marriage Facebook post, which was from an individual’s account rather than an organisation or page.

We will continue to monitor campaign material throughout the survey period. Please continue to share material – either on social media, or in leaflets and pamphlets – by following this link.



• QLife is an Australian counselling service for LGBTQI+ people that operates every day between 3pm and midnight AEST. Call 1800 184 527, or visit the website to initiate a text-based chat.