QAnon and On

A Short and Shocking History of Internet Conspiracy Cults

By: Van Badham

Narrated by: Van Badham

In QAnon and On, Guardian columnist Van Badham delves headfirst into the QAnon conspiracy theory, unpicking the why, how and who behind this century’s most dangerous and far-fetched internet cult.

From Gamergate to Pizzagate and beyond to QAnon, internet manipulation and disinformation campaigns have grown to a geopolitical scale and spilled into real life with devastating consequences, entangling everyone from politicians to Hollywood celebrities.

But what would motivate followers to so forcefully avoid the facts and surrender instead to made-up stories designed to influence and control? It’s a question that has haunted Van, herself a veteran of social media’s relentless trolling wars. In this daring investigation, Van exposes some of the internet’s most extreme communities to understand conspiracy cults from the inside.

QAnon and On is the story of the modern internet, the farscape of political belief and a disinformation pipeline built between the two that poses an ongoing threat to democracy itself. Shocking and mesmerising in equal measure, this book will open our eyes to the dangers of partisan belief.

©2021 Van Badham (P)2022 W F Howes

Critic reviews

"Van Badham is one of the most lucid, insightful and witty journalists in Australia, and seeing her expose the dark rising madness of conspiracy theories is both a joy and a panic attack all at once." (Johann Hari, New York Times best-selling author)

"Van Badham’s research is rigorous, her argument revealing and her writing absolutely impeccable. A chilling reveal on the world’s newest cult." (Jamila Rizvi, best-selling author and presenter)

"This book will compel you - and indeed all of us - to act to reclaim the internet for the good of humanity." (Ginger Gorman, multi-award winning journalist and author)

Compassionate

I don’t rate everything van writes but this a cracker - valuable work that deserves a listen - maybe even a compulsory year 12 English text if only for its compassionate conclusion

Interesting history lesson!

You feel like me and I've heard of these online cults but didn't know their origins or their full history this book is for you. it goes through some of the bigger cults that have appeared online and affected our offline world.

You may have heard of Game of gate or pizza game and definitely you've heard of q but to hear the history and what led to them as well as ways that we should be trying to interact with people that have fallen down these rabbit holes of these cults really was eye opening even after having followed some of the local participants in these cults.

I must have listened for any online native or just someone who likes to use the internet at all.

Informative and Scary

I have been intrigued by QAnon for a long while now. It has caused pain in my life due to family and friends being sucked into its clutches. This book keeps your attention and educates us on how to deal with those we love who have been or still in the cult.

Troubling news of the last few years of weird...

A thorough accounting of the conspiracy cult and the damage done to our social fabric as a result of it. Lots of information here following the historical outline of its first clearly identified manifestations online, including the unknown individual(s) posting as q but if we're being honest with ourselves the groundwork for such an aberration calling itself a movement while operating as a super-cult has been apart of the American landscape for generations now. Cyberspace has proven to be the fertile ground in which it incubated into what we're dealing with now and shouldn't be taken lightly by anyone who really cares about public safety or even national security as it seeks to not only disrupt but diminish our trust in each other and our perception of free society. For anyone who's been affected by or harassed by some element of this group or are just trying to gain a better understanding of it, including its rather morbid mechanisms this book is a great expose of it, full of details that help paint a broader more comprehensive picture. Narrated by the author herself it is an engrossing listen that I highly recommend. I found myself sitting next to the listen as much as possible until it was over and for every question she exhaustively answered in it those answers asked even more new important questions. Is the groups exploits a symptom of a greater challenge we face in this new 21st century online? And if so how do we as a collective bring hysteria based thinking with often dangerous real time consequences back from the brink? Great journalism here. Many thanks to Van Badham for the work.
See also Mike Rothschilds book "the Storm Is Upon Us" as well, a concise chronicling of not just the super cult phenomenon but a bit of the background that has led up to it.