"I’ve covered nearly a hundred missing persons cases and followed countless more, but...
www.sfgate.com
I’ve covered nearly a hundred missing persons cases and followed countless more, but I’ve rarely seen an online furor as heartless as the one surrounding Kiely. Within a few days, the internet speculation and conjecture became its own content machine. Some YouTube channels pumped out multiple videos a day, spending hours speculating wildly about the case. One channel even livestreamed an interview with one of Kiely’s friends, a minor who should be protected from, not subjected to, the scrutiny of strangers.
Searching Kiely’s name on YouTube yields a horrifying array of clickbait thumbnails and titles, like “KIELY RODNI THINGS ARE NOT ADDING UP!” and “How is this not a red flag?” They weave elaborate conspiracy theories, many centering on the actions of some of Kiely’s friends the night she went missing, accusing them of lying, leaving out important information or otherwise conspiring about Kiely's disappearance.
These "theories" do not bear repeating, because they have no basis in reality. But the names of multiple minors are now all over the internet, in YouTube comments and Twitter, Instagram and TikTok replies, linking them to the tragedy that will haunt them for the rest of their lives. The guilt they no doubt feel for losing track of their friend at a party — and who among us hasn’t experienced that at least once in their adolescence? — is now compounded by an internet paper trail of people accusing them of intentionally harming Kiely.
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