QAnon followers are hijacking #SaveTheChildren, an anti-human-trafficking movement, and joining parenting Facebook Groups in order to gain new followers
whether people realize it or not Daniel Funke / PolitiFact : QAnon, Pizzagate conspiracy theories co-opt #SaveTheChildren Erica Evans / Deseret News : How a recent surge in concern about child sex trafficking has links to online conspiracy community QAnon EJ Dickson / Rolling Stone : What Is #SaveTheChildren and Why Did Facebook Block It? Tweets: Steven Hassan / @cultexpert : Estimates are over 3 million Americans in QAnon. 14 people running for Congress who are Q via @NYTimes https://www.nytimes.com/... Joe Scarborough / @joenbc : Great job, Facebook. You are a scourge. https://www.nytimes.com/... @nytnational : “The QAnon strategy of pushing some unobjectionable, often factual content about human trafficking in addition to wild conspiracy theories has blurred the lines between legitimate anti-trafficking activism and partisan conspiracy mongering.” https://www.nytimes.com/... @idahocovid : This explains why we may be seeing an increase of the “COVID is bad but what about children being trafficked” responses as of late. No one thinks kids should be trafficked. We need as many resources as possible into ending it. But why are you responding to COVID news with it? https://twitter.com/... Kedron Bardwell / @kedronbardwell : This is seriously troubling. As is the fact I've had conversations with locals here in Iowa who repeat (unwittingly or not) Q lines about Hollywood, Democrats, and Satanic pedophile sex rings. I'm scared to ask where they heard these ideas or what their Facebook feed looks like. https://twitter.com/... Jane Coaston / @cjane87 : This this this https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/... Melissa Gira Grant / @melissagira : Between Trump and QAnon, the mainstream anti-trafficking movement is finally having to deal with where two decades of their “join us to take down the secretive global child sex trafficking criminal enterprise that no one else is talking about” call-to-action has landed them https://twitter.com/... Michael Hobbes / @rottenindenmark : The New York Times is propping up crank anti-trafficking organizations in an effort to debunk the Wayfair conspiracy theory. This is exactly what I was warning against in our Human Trafficking episode. https://www.nytimes.com/... https://twitter.com/... Sophia Bush / @sophiabush : Imagine deciding that hijakcing legitimate anti-trafficking work would be a great “recruiting strategy” and then thinking, “yeah detracting from actual anti-trafficking work is worth the clicks. LET'S DO THIS!” It's truly horrific, and evil. https://twitter.com/... Kelly Weill / @kellyweill : Weird boomerang I'm seeing is Q types accusing the pre-existing anti-trafficking groups of being involved in trafficking now. The theory's incompatible with anything productive, just a tedious black hole come to suck up the discourse and move to the next when it's out of juice. https://twitter.com/... Kevin Roose / @kevinroose : The QAnon primary winner is getting most of the attention today, and I get that. But don't sleep on the fact that QAnon ideology is growing, fast, in communities you wouldn't expect. Kevin Roose / @kevinroose : People often describe QAnon as a far-right movement (and it often acts as one), but using anti-trafficking as a gateway has expanded its reach. I've seen plenty of liberals posting about Wayfair and getting drawn into discussions about Pizzagate. Kevin Roose / @kevinroose : I wrote about how QAnon followers are hijacking #SaveTheChildren as a recruiting strategy, and the chaos it's causing for legitimate anti-trafficking groups. https://www.nytimes.com/...