They Say That Money Buys Happiness.

But it also buys hate... a lot of it!

Far-right billionaires are behind PragerU, and they are using their wealth to buy animosity against us.

I Watched This Documentary — Which Is Pure Anti-Trans Propaganda — So You Don't Have To

No, PragerU, gender-affirming care is not a “social contagion.”

Huff Post

By Ian Kumamoto

Nov 8, 2023

Updated May 13, 2024

If you were on X at all at the end of last week, then you probably had the misfortune of seeing the term “Detrans” trending. For those who didn’t investigate, here’s the unpleasant rundown: “Detrans” is the latest short film from the Prager University Foundation (better known as PragerU), a conservative nonprofit group best known for its videos that present archaic viewpoints on various civic and social justice topics.

Its latest documentary is about a small handful of people who transitioned as young people and then decided to detransition later. This film is not trending because people love or hate it, by the way. PragerU reportedly paid X $1 million to shove its agenda into everyone’s faces. This tactic should be terrifying to anyone who values speech, because it essentially boils down to a massive misinformation campaign. Although people who detransition certainly exist and are entitled to sharing their story, they account for only about 1% of all trans people.

So you know that the documentary’s creators aren’t acting in good faith when they withholds that context and make it look like giant swaths of trans people regret their decision to affirm their gender. The film makes it seem like kids everywhere are being tricked into being trans — and that this is a widespread problem we should all be worried about.

The Southern Poverty Law Center wrote this about PragerU;

Despite its name, Prager University, more commonly known as PragerU, is not an accredited academic institution in any sense. Instead, it specializes in promoting far-right propaganda through professionally produced media. The organization, which claims it “promotes the American values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” perpetrates far-right ideology vilifying the LGBTQ+ community, immigrants and people of color.

And these are the exact people Donald Trump is using for his "Freedom 250" program, a blatant rip-off of America 250, the bipartisan, congressionally mandated commission planning community celebrations. To make matters worse, many Republican-led states are now officially using PragerU materials in their public schools!

PragerU was founded in 2009 by Allen Estrin and conservative radio host Dennis Prager. The organization was conceived as a digital media project presenting viewpoints in a succinct and engaging format as “a free alternative to the dominant left-wing ideology in culture, media, and education,” according to the PragerU website.

Since its founding, PragerU has expanded its activities well beyond its initial video series. The organization now produces a broad range of media content including short educational videos, articles, podcasts and social media posts. PragerU’s goal is to indoctrinate and mobilize a conservative audience by framing issues in a way that is both accessible and compelling. This approach has allowed the organization to build a substantial following and influence public discourse on a variety of issues. According to the organization’s own metrics, 30 million unique viewers watch PragerU videos on YouTube every quarter. The PragerU site notes that 60% of YouTube viewers are under the age of 35. Additionally, the organization claims that 55% of its viewers say their civic actions were influenced by PragerU videos, and 85% say they reference PragerU videos during ideological discussions.

They are nothing more than a propaganda machine for the far-right. As the HuffPost article concludes:

Another gag is that the end of the documentary includes a clip of Oli London, who made headlines for claiming to be a “transracial” Korean and who is now a conservative anti-trans advocate. It’s disturbing to be reminded that, for those who don’t personally know any trans people, these types of documentaries might be the only content about trans people they’ll ever interact with. It’s fear-mongering at its absolute worst, and we need to call it out.

The billionaires funding this project exhibit distinct authoritarian tendencies. They remind me deeply of the wealthy industrialists who historically backed the rise of Adolf Hitler.