About

#SaveMarinaJoyce is social media hashtag launched by fans of 19-year-old British vlogger Marina Joyce over concerns that the YouTuber had been kidnapped, was the victim of abuse or was suffering from drug addiction.

Origin

On July 8th, 2016, Joyce uploaded a makeup tutorial video to YouTube, garnering upwards of 1.2 million views and 9,600 comments within three weeks. In the comments section, viewers pointed out that a gun could be seen resting against her dresser starting at 1m45s into the video, while others claimed she appeared to be stressed (video since deleted).

On July 22nd, Joyce uploaded a video titled "Date Outfit Ideas," in which she models several different women's outfits to wear on a romantic date (shown below). Within the first 20 seconds of the video, a pointing hand can be seen to the left side of the screen and Joyce can be seen whispering the words "help me." Within five days, the video gained over 4.7 million views and 60,800 comments.

After the video was uploaded, fans began forming various theories that Joyce was being forced to create the videos by a possible abusive boyfriend or captor, while others speculated she was abusing drugs. On July 24th, a post was submitted to JustPasteIt^[2] outlining some of the fan theories.

"i have the feeling, along with many other people, that someone is forcing marina to make these videos (most likely her boyfriend, but it is possible that she could have been kidnapped.) or she's overdosing on drugs. her eyes keep trailing off behind the camera and her body language makes her seem incredibly uncomfortable. almost like she's repeating what someone else is doing. she can barely stand still, she's shaking, and her body appears stiff and wobbly."

Spread

On July 26th, 2016, YouTuber TheBakeey uploaded a video titled "Save Marina Joyce," encouraging viewers to spread the #savemarinajoyce hashtag (shown below, left). Meanwhile, YouTuber Scare uploaded a video titled "YouTuber Held Hostage or on Drugs? #SaveMarinaJoyce Conspiracy" (shown below, right).

That day, the hashtag #SaveMarinaJoyce became the #1 worldwide trending optic on Twitter.^[4] Meanwhile, the official Twitter^[3] feed for the Enfield, London Metropolitan Police Service tweeted that officers visited Joyce's home and that "she is safe and well" (shown below). Within 24 hours, the tweet garnered upwards of 9,500 likes and 9,200 retweets. Also on July 26th, a post titled "Who is Marina Joyce and why is there a Twitter campaign to 'save her'?" was submitted to /r/OutOfTheLoop.^[12]

On July 27th, Sam Pepper tweeted the hashtag "#savemarinajoyce," claiming that anyone who knew her personally "knows she has a serious drug addiction" (shown below, left).^[6] Several hours later, Joyce tweeted the hashtag along with a message that she was "totally fine" (shown below, right).^[5] In the coming days, several news sites published articles about #SaveMarinaJoyce hashtag, including Snopes,^[1] We The Unicorns,^[7] People,^[8] IBI Times,^[9] The Independent^[10] and Refinery29.^[11]

Search Interest

External References