Sentiment and Thematic Analysis of Social Media Discourse for Child Trafficking Crimes: Epstein Case Example

Abstract

The study aimed to examine the sentiment and thematic structure of social discourse on child trafficking through the Jeffrey Epstein case on the X platform. The research method involved 50,000 tweets with the highest engagement posted about Jeffrey Epstein investigation on the X platform that were analyzed using sentiment analysis and topic modeling techniques. In the findings, Document publication and public debates (54.25%), political and global power relations (25.36%), and legal processes and high-level connections (20.39%). The results revealed that online discourse on child trafficking is largely shaped around sexual exploitation, child victimization and elite criminal relations.