CLAIM: "MAP PRIDE" SYMBOLS ARE PART OF A COMPLEX SYSTEM OF "SECRET CODE" USED ONLINE AND ELSEWHERE BY QUEER FOLX TO SIGNAL THEIR CRIMINAL INTEREST IN CHILDREN. THESE SYMBOLS WERE FIRST UNCOVERED 20 YEARS AGO WITH THE PUBLISHING OF AN FBI DOCUMENT ON WIKILEAKS.

FACT CHECK: MOSTLY FALSE ❌

2025 has been a crazy year for conspiracy theories based upon the supposedly widespread, yet also allegedly criminal and secretive use of MAP Pride symbology.

Principally, this has related to spiral designs such as the famous BLogo, first shared in 1997, and the derivative GLogo. While these claims are evidently nothing new, we believe the uptick in activity owes to a post on X.com (Twitter) by the nonbinary streamer and Anti known as Coffins. Coffins had virally shared a graphic (featured below) based upon designs from a well-known MAP-inclusive website, Paraphilia + Flags Wiki. This graphic, while largely accurate, made unsupported accusations of criminality. It raised the possibility of a new "handkerchief code" by placing undue emphasis on multiple, barely-used designs (only 10 of the 40 or so symbols are regularly used outside of the wiki). The graphic was already "doing the rounds" on X earlier in the year, but had not achieved much traction before Coffins shared it.

Some time prior to the Coffins viral (late 2024), there had been controversies surrounding the migration of X users to Bluesky, and suggestions that some of them were coming out as open pedophiles. This led to an uptick in "sleuthing", i.e. users on X trying to "confirm" that what they saw was indeed a pedophile. At that point, and following our own participation on Bluesky, we were forced to issue another fact check pointing out that while screenshots of hoax accounts had been circulated by right wing trolls, many of the accounts including ours, were real.

Just prior to Coffins' tweet earlier this year, there was also a long controversy involving the New Zealand Green Party MP Benjamin Doyle, in which he was described as a MAP by users who saw a blue spiral-swirl symbol on a deleted Instagram profile of his, "Biblebeltbussy". This blue swirl (a common emoji) was said to approximate the Little Boy Lover logo, a variation of the BLogo, and Doyle was mercilessly mocked in the New Zealand right-wing and Radical Feminist media, many feigning outrage that he, as a queer man and "credibly accused pedophile", was still allowed custody of his child. Despite threats against his safety, no criminal investigations ever took place into Doyle's conduct, and he remains an MP at the time of writing.

More recently, the BLogo has again been "spotted" as part of a traditional recurring pattern on a bowl in a video call featuring Barack Obama, breathing new life into Pizzagate-type conspiracies. Around 15-20M people saw this viral on X alone. In some cases, unhinged conspiracy theorists were so gripped by the hype, they told individuals who owned similar ethnic art to destroy the items, cleanse themselves of pedophilia and apologise to the community.

Background: The original FBI/Wikileaks Document

In 2007, Wikileaks published an "unclassified" document (full PDF) from the FBI, detailing the BLogo and other common MAP symbols at the time. This leak may have been due to a frustrated whistle-blower, or an "accident" orchestrated by the FBI themselves - our team remains unsure.

While all the symbols contained within the document were widely circulated on legal Clearnet MAP forums at the time (see, for example, Web Archives of existing sites that published in those years), its sharing on Wikileaks did two things:

1. Helped perpetuate the false and harmful idea that the FBI had "uncovered" a "secret code" used by "criminal networks" (supported by assertions made by the FBI in the document). The symbols were in fact used openly, and exclusively within law-abiding MAP communities.
2. Fuelled conspiracy theories and "pattern reading", whereby logos and symbols said to be similar to those in the document could be interpreted as evidence of criminal networking among suspected "pedophiles". Some of the symbols also ended up in many of the viral graphics associated with the later Pizzagate conspiracy theory.

On more than one occasion, the FBI's unwelcome attention towards these symbols has backfired dramatically on their own colleagues, with state police departments having been accused of displaying BLogos on their badges.

In conclusion, conspicuousness does not aid the efficiency of criminal networks. While the assertion that the symbols described in this fact check were ever intended for covert criminal use is false and harmful, even if this were the case, all the symbols would have fallen out of use after repeated viral controversies and law enforcement attention. Yet, MAP Pride symbols are still in use within their original context, because they are pride symbols and not secret code.

Fancy discussing this article, or leaving feedback? Why not share your opinion on our forum thread?

Sources

1. Sources are used throughout our article, and our review has been compiled by persons familiar with online MAP communities since well before the FBI's original document was "leaked".

2. Web Archives of Ivan.net (Free Spirits, the most widely used Boy Love hub on the internet and proudly non-offending) demonstrate use of a BLogo as early as the late 90s.

3. A detailed and ongoing review of social media activity during the period concerned.