Invisible Children, Inc., founded in 2004, is an organization to increase awareness of the activities of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Central Africa, and its leader, Joseph Kony.

Invisible Children advocated for the passing of the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, a piece of legislation which led to the deployment of 100 combat-equipped US soldiers to the region for the purpose of advising the local forces in tracking and capturing Joseph Kony.

While the organization's films have won several awards, its use of funds, projection of facts, and support of the SPLA and the Uganda People's Defence Force have come into question as these two groups have been known to commit similar atrocities to those blamed on the LRA.

[5] The attention the conditions in Uganda received revealed that over the previous 20 years the LRA was abducting children and using them as kadogo (child soldiers), a practice in which the Museveni government had also engaged.

[7] Russell had recently graduated from film school at the University of Southern California, and after hearing from locals that gunmen had shot at the truck in front of him while driving in northern Uganda, he learned about Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army.

After returning home to the United States, the group created a documentary titled Invisible Children: The Rough Cut, which aims to expose the plight of child soldiers and night commuters of northern Uganda.

The young men set out on a mission to expose what they had witnessed in Uganda, screening their film at hundreds of high schools, colleges, and churches throughout the United States.

[14] Fall Out Boy originally intended to create a documentary-style film, but decided to focus on a love story between two Ugandan children, opining that the treatment "seemed a lot more dangerous and compelling.

[12] In an article analyzing why the Obama administration sent US troops to Central Africa in October, 2011, the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) criticized groups like Invisible Children for "manipulat[ing] facts for strategic purposes, exaggerating the scale of LRA abductions and murders".

[5] The Washington Post brought up criticism of the organization for its role in the passing of the Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act.

The law was designed to help bring peace and stability to the region, however, according to the article, "[Critics say] it has strengthened the hand of the Ugandan president, whose security forces have a human rights abuse record of their own".

Following the release of the film Kony 2012, the group asserted that it hoped to explain the conflict in "an easily understandable format", with CEO Ben Keesey adding that "There are few times where problems are black and white.

[20] Other critics claimed that the group spends most of the money they collect from their charity on staff salaries and "making films that attract much publicity, but don't do much to help people on the ground.

"[12] The organization responded to critiques of its spending by providing a breakdown of its finances on its website, which claimed that 80.46% of its money raised was spent on "its mission", with 16% going to administration and management costs.

[21] Invisible Children responded on their website with founder Jason Russell explaining that it was a joke photo taken at the 2008 Juba peace talks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that would have been "funny to bring back to our friends and family".

Gordon explained the context of the photograph as the Invisible Children founders being bored at the stalled peace talks and deciding to have some fun posing with weapons and SPLA members.

The film makers further alleged that the organization deliberately named a former local supporter as a coup plotter, leading to his arrest and torture at the hand of the state.