MISINFORMATION OR ACTIVISM: MAPPING NETWORKED MORAL PANIC THROUGH AN ANALYSIS OF #SAVETHECHILDREN

When looking at the recent social-political history of America it isdifficult to avoid references to QAnon, a widespread, conservative-leaning conspiracy thatamalgamates numerous conspiracies into a single movement. Central to the movement’s growthhas been a moral panic around child sex trafficking that has served as a gateway for newadherents to become exposed to broader QAnon rhetoric. QAnon’s co-optation of the#SaveTheChildren (#STC) movement exemplifies this networked moral panic and has played amajor role in facilitating the spread of misinformation under a banner of moral authority.This paper explores the proponents of #SaveTheChildren on social media platformInstagram—paying particular attention to their motivations, tactics and desired outcomes—inorder to explore how networked social movements build knowledge and organize in spaces thatare vulnerable to the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories. Research is drawnfrom an inductive thematic analysis of 1,400 Instagram posts related to the #SaveTheChildrenmovement across 2020. Analysis illuminates how the #SaveTheChildren movement is defined moreas an identity based, social-political movement rooted in moral panic— rather than onefocused on truly supporting human rights. Our analysis illuminates how networked moralpanics— facilitated by the affordances and tactics of social media —can bring togetherdisparate communities to spread misinformation under the guise of activism.