Photos from the movie 'Lilo & Stitch' support child sex-trafficking conspiracy theories.
In the original version of the 2002 Disney movie 'Lilo & Stitch,' there's a scene in which Lilo hides from her older sister in the dryer during a fight. But earlier this year, TikTok users drew attention to a change in the animated movie, BuzzFeed reported. Lilo is hiding behind a pizza box, not a dryer. On Facebook, posts such as this one are casting this film edit in a nefarious light, using hashtags like #savethechildren and #Pizzagate, a baseless conspiracy theory that emerged in 2016 and claims that children were being abused and tortured at a pizza restaurant in Washington, D.C. 'I'm wondering who could explain why a movie I watched as a kid that was made almost 20 YEARS AGO suddenly made its way into Disney+ and his this specific 'modification,'' the post says. 'I'm. Disgusted.' This post was flagged as part of Facebook's efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.) Disney has edited several movies and TV shows that are now streaming on Disney+ 'to make it more palatable to a modern, family-friendly audience,' according to Newsweek, including removing scenes with nudity from 'Splash.' In Lilo & Stitch, the scene was edited to show Lilo hiding behind a pizza box 'in order to prevent children hiding in dryers,' the magazine reported. But the revised scene isn't new. Lilo hid behind a pizza box in the version that was originally released in the United Kingdom in 2002 so that it could have a lower movie rating. TikTok users may just be discovering the edit but it was under discussion as many as six years ago on Reddit. Then, like now, there was no evidence that Disney was nodding to an unfounded theory about a child sex-trafficking ring by including a pizza box in an edited scene. We rate this Facebook post False.
We rate this Facebook post False.