Seth Dillon Human Trafficking and Pedophilia Libel

About

Seth Dillon Human Trafficking and Pedophilia Libel, also known as Seth Dillon Human Trafficking and Pedophilia Slander, refers to a series of posts on X about The Babylon Bee owner Seth Dillon being falsely labeled as a human trafficker, pedophile and rapist. The defamatory posts (largely trolling in nature) were started by various accounts on X who targeted Dillon in August 2023 after he posted a quote retweet about a minor Mississippi woman who couldn't get an abortion after being raped, suggesting that the baby "could always" be dressed in "a 'should have been aborted' onesie so no one ever mistakenly thinks he's wanted." The posts also started as an attempt to portray Dillon as a hypocrite due to some of his previous statements on free speech in which he said it's the "right to be wrong." The X posts were then snowballed by a viral QRT that stated that Dillon was the culprit in the kidnapping of a missing 12-year-old girl, tagging the FBI and inspiring a response from Dillon himself asking, "Is this legal?"

Origin

On August 16th, 2023, Seth Dillon quote retweeted an X^[1] post from the New York Post that led with the headline, "Mississippi girl, 13, gives birth after being raped, unable to get an abortion." Seth Dillon's QRT read, "She could always dress him in a 'should have been aborted' onesie so no one ever mistakenly thinks he's wanted" (shown below, left). The QRT was later deleted by Dillon, however, it was screenshotted, reposted and replied to by various X^[2][4] and Facebook^[3] users on August 16th, such as a post shared by X^[4] user @MattBinder who captioned Dillon's tweet and a viral reply with, "a back-to-back blue check moment / also, jesus christ," gaining roughly 63,100 likes in two days (shown below, right).

Dillon's QRT subsequently inspired numerous replies that criticized him, such as a reply posted by X^[2] user @yhdistyminen who wrote, "Mocking a girl who was raped and forced to birth her rapist's child seems very un-Christian of you," gaining roughly 4,000 likes in two days.

The trolling statements against Dillon (which he later perceived as libel) due to his QRT started on August 17th, 2023, when X^[5] user @ch1w33th3d0g similarly quote retweeted a New York Post post regarding a "Missing 12-year-old girl believed to be staying with ‘much older’ man." @ch1w33th3d0g captioned the QRT, "Open and shut case @FBI the man who has her under his control is @SethDillon," gaining roughly 20,000 likes in a day (shown below).

Spread

Later on August 17th, 2023, Seth Dillon posted a screenshot of @ch1w33th3d0g's QRT, writing, "Is this legal?" He then followed up with a reply reading, "I'm blocked so I can't report it." Both posts were deleted by Dillon before the end of August 18th, however, X^[6] user @MattBinder posted a screenshot of the post and reply on August 17th (shown below, left).

Also in @MattBinder's post, he included a screenshot of a July 2023 post from Dillon on free speech (shown below, right). The two were compared by @MattBinder in an attempt to label Dillon as a hypocrite, gaining roughly 17,100 likes in one day for the post.

The defamatory and trolling posts surrounding Dillon continued to gain traction going into mid-August 2023. For instance, on August 17th, X^[7] user @JUNlPER posted about Dillon being a trafficker, gaining roughly 15,800 likes in one day (shown below, left). Dillon then posted a screenshot of @JUNlPER's posts on August 18th, expressing anger, receiving over 560 likes in two hours (shown below, right).

Soon after, the libelous post, jokes and memes about Dillon extended beyond child abuse-related comments. For instance, on August 17th, 2023, X^[8] user @websiteidi0t posted a fake Grindr profile created to look like Dillon, gaining roughly 4,900 likes in a day (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References