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A2 UP FRONT
Thursday 29 OcTOber 2020
QAnon's 'Save the Children' morphs into popular slogan

prosecutors have less ag- some misinformation that ized around. "The core
gressively prosecuted child surfaced from QAnon after of QAnon is that Trump is
sex trafficking cases. receiving hundreds of calls the hero. It assembles a
"I do know they are very about human trafficking narrative to justify any of
much against pedophilia," conspiracy theories over (Trump's) actions as valiant
Trump said during his tele- the summer. and heroic," she said.
vised town hall this month, Some social media users Social media posts about
when asked about QAnon. have been introduced QAnon and the "Save the
"They fight it very hard." to QAnon through posts Children" movement have
As the movement's popu- about child sex traffick- also increased in Instagram
larity grows, Save the Chil- ing that use #SavetheChil- communities focused on
dren — a century-old, Lon- dren. Facebook and In- health, wellness and yoga
don-based humanitarian stagram tried to squelch that are popular with wom-
organization that aided those QAnon recruitment en, said Melanie Smith,
144 million children world- efforts last month by direct- the head of analysis for
A group holds signs rallying in support of the “Save the Children” wide last year with a mis- ing people who search for social media research firm
movement, calling for an end to child trafficking Sept. 26, 2020, sion of ensuring kids grow #SavetheChildren to the Graphika.
in Morris, Ill. up healthy, educated and official website for the hu- QAnon and "Save the Chil-
Associated Press safe — found its trade- manitarian organization. dren" have become such

Continued from Front the media intelligence firm marked name coopted But the connections a force in the online yoga
Zignal Labs conducted for on social media. The char- among "Save the Children," community that influenc-
She promoted her event The Associated Press. ity has repeatedly said it QAnon, and Trump still per- ers including yoga teacher
on Facebook, as many The movement gained is not associated with the meate social media. Seane Corn posted letters
other women are doing. popularity as posts about SavetheChildren hashtag Instagram, Facebook and on Instagram last month
Some also use the platform QAnon spiked on Face- used to spread conspiracy Twitter accounts regular- warning followers not to
to launch private groups book and Instagram this theories. The conspiracies ly use #SavetheChildren "be fooled" by slickly craft-
where they swap tips, ru- year, prompting millions of also distort the reality of to promote memes and ed posts spreading misin-
mors and stories about likes, shares and comments how people become vic- conspiracy theories about formation about human
child trafficking. on the platforms, a sepa- tims of human trafficking, Democrats. trafficking.
Mentions of #SavetheChil- rate AP review of public so- experts have said. One such Instagram post Smith has studied QAnon
dren on Twitter began cial media posts found. Washington-based Po- that was liked nearly 12,000 for two years and said the
climbing in June and peak- While Trump has not made laris, the nonprofit group times includes pictures of conspiracy theory reached
ed in August when the "Save the Children" part of that runs the National Hu- former President Barack new audiences in recent
hashtag was used more his campaign, he has twice man Trafficking hotline, Obama, his wife Michelle, months through hashtags
than 800,000 times during publicly praised QAnon's created a myth-busting former President Bill Clinton like #SavetheChildren.
the first week of that month, mission. Under his admin- resource page on its web- and former Secretary of "The way in which people
according to an analysis by istration, however, federal site focused on debunking State Hillary Clinton. encounter QAnon, now,
It asks: "How much would is through relatively main-
you pay-per-view to see stream, non-absurd topics,"
the FBI raid their homes and Smith told the U.S. House In-
take them out in handcuffs telligence Committee dur-
at 3 a.m." ing a hearing this month.
A video viewed more than "We're seeing a huge ex-
5,000 times on a QAnon plosion in content around
account features images child sex trafficking and
of Trump giving a thumbs child exploitation through
up to the #SavetheChil- the Save the Children
dren and photos of abused movement."
women, with dramatic mu- Vermillion hands out home-
sic in the background. made leaflets with statis-
Under the guise of benefit- tics and online resources
ing children, many of the for combatting child sex
posts seek to lure people abuse. She said she avoids
into the QAnon conspiracy "Save the Children" Face-
theory circle and encour- book groups promoting
age support for Trump, said misinformation, QAnon
Sophie Bjork-James, an and white supremacy sym-
anthropology professor at bols. But there was some
Vanderbilt University who QAnon support at her
studies the religious right event. One woman held
and QAnon. a sign reading, "Hollywood
The movement is particu- loves adrenochrome," a
larly attractive to con- reference to a QAnon con-
servative religious women, spiracy theory claiming
Bjork-James said. Her re- baselessly that celebrities
search on small, evangeli- traffic children to harvest
cal churches in Colorado adrenaline from their blood
Springs more than a dec- to create a drug.
ade ago found that hu- Vermillion insisted: "This
man trafficking was one rally today is not about
of the few political causes Hollywood and drinking
the congregations organ- blood."q