Child marriage on social media: investigating a conservative society behind the scene
Summary & Objectives
This study examines public perspectives on child marriage in a conservative setting by analysing how people respond to child-marriage content on Facebook. Using qualitative content analysis, the author reviewed 105 comments posted under three Facebook reports discussing child marriage and its harms, with the objective of identifying the underlying attitudes and narratives that shape acceptance, denial, and backlash in online discourse.
Findings
Four themes emerge from the comments: conspiracy framing, claims that the reports are false, explicit acceptance of child marriage, and ignorance or misinformation. A substantial share of commenters portray child-marriage reporting as part of a broader conspiracy and dismiss evidence as fabricated, which functions as a social defence against change. The comments also normalise child marriage as acceptable, and the analysis notes that women’s comments can be strongly supportive of child marriage, indicating that endorsement may be internalised and socially reproduced rather than simply imposed. Overall, the online discussion shows that resistance to ending child marriage is not only “private” or hidden; it is publicly articulated, and social media can amplify narratives that undermine prevention efforts.
Recommendations
Child-marriage strategies should explicitly address misinformation, denial, and conspiracy narratives rather than assuming that providing facts alone will shift beliefs. Prevention messaging should be designed with an understanding of how people interpret and contest child-marriage reporting online, and it should include targeted digital engagement that counters normalisation and builds credibility. Programmes should treat online spaces as both a risk and a resource: a channel that can entrench harmful norms, but also a data source for monitoring public sentiment and tailoring norm-change approaches.
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