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# For Fact’s Sake podcast: Does the latest box office hit promote child trafficking conspiracies?
- URL: https://www.theferret.scot/for-facts-sake-movie-child-trafficking-conspiracies/
- Published: 2023-08-31T14:40:12.000Z
- Updated: 2025-10-17T09:02:43.000Z
- Author: Ferret Journalists
- Tags: Fact Checks, #davesutton2gmail-com, Podcast, Anna Merlan, blockbuster, child trafficking, cinema, conspiracy, film, Operation Underground Railroad, QAnon, sound of freedom, Tim Ballard, Tim Marchman, US box office, Vice News, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-10-15 12:08, #older_unmetered

An independent film released in the UK this week has taken the US box office by storm, but has run into controversy.

Sound of Freedom is the story of anti-child trafficking campaigner Tim Ballard, who founded charity [Operation Underground](https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a3apm/anti-trafficking-group-with-long-history-of-false-claims-gets-its-hollywood-moment?ref=theferret.scot)[ ](https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a3apm/anti-trafficking-group-with-long-history-of-false-claims-gets-its-hollywood-moment?ref=theferret.scot)[Railroad](https://www.vice.com/en/article/4a3apm/anti-trafficking-group-with-long-history-of-false-claims-gets-its-hollywood-moment?ref=theferret.scot) (OUR).

But the credibility of the claims made by Ballard and the organisation [he once led](https://www.vice.com/en/article/k7z74x/tim-ballard-sound-of-freedom-operation-underground-railroad-stepped-away?ref=theferret.scot) have been called into question, and troubling links have been unearthed with conspiracy theories perpetuated by the US far-right.

Vice News journalists [Anna Merlan](https://www.vice.com/en/contributor/anna-merlan?ref=theferret.scot) and [Tim Marchman](https://www.vice.com/en/contributor/tim-marchman?ref=theferret.scot) have been digging into the facts behind Ballard and OUR for a number of years, and explained to Ali and Paul what is going on.

Elsewhere on the podcast, we explain why Ferret Fact Service fact-checked a video about Patrick Harvie, and Ali’s credibility is tested in an impromptu quiz.

#### Show notes:

- Anna and Tim’s work on [OUR and Tim Ballard can be found here](https://www.vice.com/en/search?q=operation%20underground%20railroad&ref=theferret.scot).
- Our fact check on the [Patrick Harvie video is here.](https://www.theferret.scot/claim-patrick-harvie-said-industry-must-die-false/)

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