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

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