The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is facing a digital reckoning, as scores of ex-Mormon influencers are shedding light on church secrets that LDS officials would rather keep buried.
With millions of monthly impressions, ‘#exmo’ content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram is some of the most popular and widely-viewed faith-based content online – and nearly all of it is sharply critical of Mormonism. That’s a major problem for church leaders, who say that the flood of ex-Mormon content is damaging both recruitment and retention of LDS faithful.
What are they saying, and how is the church responding?
The Ex-Mormon Movement
From the LDS Church’s history of denying priesthood to black men, to Joseph Smith’s own polygamist history, ex-Mormon influencers are taking to social media platforms to share a complicated church history many young people find troublesome.
Add in the church’s strict cultural expectations, its treatment of LGBTQ+ individuals, and reports of a $200+ billion financial reserve, and you have a recipe for disillusionment, especially amongst young people.
One of the most popular "exmo" influencers is Alyssa Grenfell, who has more than one million followers on social media. In her videos, she reveals Mormon secrets to outsiders – secrets the church considers sacrilegious to talk about outside temple walls, like the outfits Mormon women wear on their wedding day, or the church’s secret baptism rituals.
She also tailors some of her content towards current members of the church who may be questioning their faith, shining a light on some of the more controversial elements of the church’s past.
Others highlight an interesting discovery: they found that being part of the church wasn't necessary to feel "spiritual" – and that in fact they could achieve that same connection elsewhere, without the baggage of membership.
If the goal is to drive a wedge between the church and its members, it’s working. Videos by Grenfell and others aren’t just reaching ex-Mormons and those outside the faith with a curiosity about it – they’re reaching current members, and stirring doubt.
LDS Church Fights Back
LDS leaders are leaning into short-form content on their own social media, hoping to combat some of the narratives they say are being unfairly amplified by popular ex-Mormon content creators.
In recent years, official LDS Church accounts have ramped up their digital presence, posting slickly produced videos highlighting faith-affirming stories, scripture snippets, and family-centered messages. These videos often feature smiling families, young missionaries, and everyday members talking about the joy of living the gospel, designed to counter the more sensational stories spread by critics.
But the church’s most potent weapon in the war of the influencers isn’t its institutional accounts - it’s the tens of thousands of missionaries stationed across the globe.
Missionaries as Evangelists
LDS leadership has urged young missionaries to share their testimonies online, post day-in-the-life videos, and document their service experiences. By saturating platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and even BeReal with wholesome, faith-forward content, the church hopes to shift the algorithm in its favor.
The strategy is simple: if a teenager scrolling through #exmo videos can also stumble across dozens of posts from smiling 19-year-olds sharing their faith journeys, it might soften the blow of criticism and keep them engaged with the church.
The result is a kind of arms race for attention, where both critics and defenders of Mormonism battle for dominance on the feeds of curious onlookers.
Whether this strategy will succeed remains an open question. For now, what’s clear is that the front lines of faith are increasingly moving online, where slickly produced content and the almighty algorithm are helping to win (and lose) believers.
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