This series of Insights draws on the GNET report, ‘Cults and Online Violent Extremism’ by Inform (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements). Inform are an independent educational charity providing information about minority religions and sects which is as accurate, up-to-date and as evidence-based as possible. This Insight introduces the phenomena and definitions of ‘cult’ and ‘cultic’ behaviour and its intersection with online violent extremism.
In the online environment, the terms ‘cult’ and ‘cultic’ are used to describe phenomena as diverse as the self-promotion of Andrew Tate (the online influencer recently charged with rape and human trafficking), the loose networks that facilitated the events of January 6th, and online recruitment into Islamic State and other offline paramilitary groups. In contemporary contexts, cult rhetoric is also associated with positive status on social media, as influencers and brands aspire to have a ‘cult following’; being a little bit ‘cultish’ is also attention-grabbing and fashionable in some contexts. ‘Cult’ can also be a technical academic term, but since the late 1970s social scientists have generally preferred to use the analytic category of New Religious Movements (NRMs) for groups popularly identified as cults in the media.
This Insight series proposes three ideal-typical groupings of online cultic activity that can glorify and inspire violent extremisms: ‘Cultic’ Religious Groups, ‘Online Cultic Milieus’ and ‘Cultic Fandoms’. This is not an exhaustive description of online activity that has been termed ‘cultic’ in popular culture, but it provides a good starting point for further analysis. For example, another useful analytic category might be that of the ‘cultic influencer’ which could include celebrity pastors, imams, ‘self-help gurus’ and leaders of multi-level marketing schemes (although this category is less frequently associated with violent extremism). This series argues that the understanding of ‘cults’ and online activity needs to be carefully nuanced; the complexities of online and offline activities that might result in violent extremism need to be analysed and risk assessed at the level of both group/social movement and individual.
History of the Term ‘Cult’
Most popular uses of the word ‘cult’ assume that a group referred to as a cult is a social problem. After the 1978 events in Jonestown, Guyana, in which over nine hundred members of the Peoples Temple were either murdered or coerced into suicide, many individuals and governments proposed lists of ‘cult’ groups that should be proscribed or at least on a ‘danger list’. However, there has never been a consistent way of identifying the differences between cultic groups and established religions, which also may have charismatic leaders and a propensity towards both in-group and out-group violence. Legislating for and against ‘good’ and ‘bad’ religious groups is extremely problematic.
This series of embraces the popular usage of ‘cult’ in online spaces to provide a more refined understanding of new online religious phenomena that are of social concern and have some association with violent extremism. It argues that understandings of ‘cults’ and online activity need to be carefully nuanced; the complexities of online and offline activities should be risk assessed at the level of both group/social movement and the individual.
Cult and Online Violent Extremism Series
This series of Insights offers a more nuanced understanding of cultic activity online by proposing three groupings that may glorify and inspire violent extremisms: ‘Cultic’ Religious Groups, ‘Online Cultic Milieus’ and ‘Cultic Fandoms’. Each of these movements offers a different way of being ‘cultish’ in the online environment. Needless to say, there are also other interactions between ‘cult’ and online spaces which are beyond the focus of this report, not least the phenomena of ‘cultic’ influencers (including celebrity pastors, imams, ‘self-help gurus’ and leaders of multi-level marketing schemes). While there are many religious groups found online that overlap with offline violent extremism – for example, some Heathen and Rodnovery pagan groups and Islamist ideology are regularly noted – in this series we focus on the Order of Nine Angles (O9A or ONA) as an ‘ideal typical’ example of a ‘Cultic’ Religious Group that has raised concern around violent extremism and is found in the online space.
For the idea of ‘Online Cultic Milieus’, we focus on the overlapping nature of discourses of concern, focusing on QAnon and anti-vaccine (anti-vax) spaces, and highlight the wider identifying characteristics of these loose and fluid discussion communities that at times inspire offline violence. The final Insight focuses on ‘Cultic Fandoms’, arguing that these phenomena also should be understood as broad and varied in nature. For this, we look at the fandoms associated with ‘Columbiners’, a term describing those focused on the 1999 Columbine, Colorado, school shooting, as well as those focused on the figure of Ted Kaczynski (1942–2023), otherwise known as the ‘Unabomber’, whose lifestyle, modus operandi and manifesto variously inspire a range of individuals and groups, as well as a thriving meme culture on mainstream social media platforms.
The complexity of these movements and the individuals who interact with them needs to be understood for accurate risk assessment of the likelihood of violence by groups or individuals. It is hoped that these categories will allow those analysing the potential of an online environment incubating violent extremists to understand the nature and variety of online milieus and interactions more holistically.