Disturbing Online Cults Thriving on Social Media

The rise of the internet has made it easier than ever for people to connect, share ideas, and build communities. But that same connectivity has opened the door for manipulation, exploitation, and abuse. In recent years, a new wave of cults has emerged on social media platforms like YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, and Facebook.

These digital-age cults don't always look like cults at first glance, and that's exactly what makes them so dangerous. Unlike traditional cults that revolve around a single charismatic leader, internet-based cults often appear more decentralized and ideologically vague. Under the guise of spiritual growth, political awakening, or artistic freedom, these online movements lure in vulnerable individuals, and some continue to operate to this day.

To compile this list of modern digital cults, 24/7 Tempo consulted reporting from sources including VICE Magazine, The Reformed Journal, the Global Network on Extremism and Technology, USA Today, The New York Times, and Britannica. These groups were selected for their cult-like tactics, social media strategy, and real-world consequences. Let's check them out.

Wiz-El and Koa Malone (sister of Kyp Malone from the band TV on the Radio) founded the cult as the "Tumple" and operated through a Facebook group that attracted followers lurking in the weird section of Facebook. More explicitly, they targeted aspiring musicians and artists, suggesting they could help with marketing and branding. The leaders claimed the group to be "a new foundation, the Black Pleasure Foundation," that sought to replace the white methodology of capitalism. In tandem, they promoted sobriety and antiracist education. They also taught esoteric sex practices that members could learn by paying $2,000 per month in courses.

In practice, however, the group barred recruits from holding conventional jobs. Furthermore, any money they earned was expected to return to the group's coffers. The DayLife Army subjected some followers to further manipulative practices. These included being coerced into sexual practices, shaving their hair, and other strange, increasingly abusive commands. As time passed, more followers disavowed the group. Some spoke publicly about its subtle but extensive influence network. Many claimed the group pressured them to turn against their friends and family while relying on them for money to give to the cult.

Ultimately, The DayLife Army coaxes its followers into a fully encompassed group, forcing them to adopt specific cult-like rhetoric as the stakes are ratcheted up slowly but surely until they are under complete control. After several ex-followers spoke publically about the group's abusive, cult-like practices, The DayLife Army went underground. These days, there is scant information about their online practices. However, they are likely to still exist on more obscure corners of the internet.

By all accounts, Amy Carlson had a normal childhood and grew up conventionally. According to her mother, however, adulthood brought Carlson an increasingly outlandish worldview. This led her to post constantly on new-age message boards like Lightworkers.org. There, she befriended another poster named Amerith WhiteEagle (real name Robert Saltsgaver) who assured Carlson of her divine status. Not long after, Carlson quit her job, abandoned her family, and moved in with WhiteEagle in Colorado.

Under the name the Galactic Federation of Light, the pair began posting videos on YouTube and attracting followers with its mashup belief system that combined elements of Abrahamic religions, conspiracy theories, and new-age spirituality. By 2019, the group attracted a core group of a dozen followers who lived with Carlson and Saltsgaver. These followers helped recruit new followers and donations via social media. All the while, however, core followers were subjected to increasingly abusive, cult-like tactics including physical punishment and sleep deprivation. After mounting complaints from families of followers, the Saguache County Sheriff's Office investigated the group.

As time went on, the Love Has Won group suffered increased fracturing and in-fighting. Convinced of both her ailing health and immortality, Carlson began drinking excessive amounts of colloid silver daily. She fell into ill health before eventually dying from uncertain causes. On April 28, 2021, authorities found her body at the group's Colorado location, covered in glitter and Christmas lights in what appeared to be a makeshift shrine. In response, followers claimed Carlson had "ascended," and promptly took the group's website offline. As of late, the core group splintered into different smaller, competing cults. The Love Has Won story was most notably covered in a 2023 HBO documentary called "Love Has Won: The Cult of Mother God."

Unlike many old-school cults, Raëlism successfully embraced and harnessed the power of the internet to find followers and spread influence. In his former life, Claude Vorilhon worked as a test driver and car magazine journalist. After an alleged extraterrestrial encounter in December 1973, however, Vorilhon changed his name to Raël and created the Raëlian Movement.

The group believes that a group of aliens called the Elohim created humanity using advanced technology, periodically injecting a prophet to advance civilization like Buddha, Muhammed, or Jesus. Conveniently, it also believes Lord Raël to be the 40th and final prophet. Raël claims that since the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima, Japan, humanity entered an Age of Apocalypse. To combat this, people must find the intersection of technology and peace before the Elohim return to earth. To facilitate this, the group engages in daily meditation, sexual experimentation, and other practices that aspire toward immortality through human cloning.

Raëlism claims thousands of members worldwide, with certain group-focused organizations attracting all-female follower contingents. While the group claims to be peaceful and nonharmful, others disagree. Countries like France and Belgium consider The Raëlian Movement to be a cult due to their promotion of quasi-fascist and racist ideas. Nevertheless, the group remains active on more new-age corners of the internet.

Modern cults take on a more nebulous form than their traditional equivalents. Thanks to the internet, modern cults operate as such while blurring the lines between political theory, conspiracy, and belief. Take QAnon, for example, one of the most controversial groups to arise on the web in recent years. It all started in October 2017 when an anonymous poster on 4Chan calling themself Q claimed to be a high-level government operative. In a series of 'drops,' the poster spilled purported secrets about the Trump administration. Over the following months and eventually years, Q would periodically post outlandish information regarding the Trump White House, the Deep State, and the war between the two groups.

Rather quickly these posts became a viral phenomenon that eventually morphed into a political movement. At the heart of its beliefs was the notion that Trump was a freedom fighter against a cabal of pedophiles rooted in the various chains of the American government. Soon, QAnon made the jump to the real world with followers appearing at Trump rallies. For his part, Trump further publicized the movement on his social media. In time, the conspiracy grew out of control, and followers committed acts of violence and unrest in support of their beliefs. After the disputed 2020 election, many QAnon followers took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

While QAnon purports itself to be more of a political movement, it shows all the hallmarks of a cult: in-group rhetoric, a maze of secrets that lead followers down a rabbit hole and away from their communities, and a prophecy on the horizon to keep followers hooked. In recent years, QAnon has received not only widespread criticism but responses from law enforcement like the FBI, which considers the group to be a domestic terrorist threat. The leadup to this year's election has brought a notably muted response from QAnon followers, but that doesn't mean they aren't still around.

The Twin Flames Universe cult traces its roots to the meeting of Jeffrey "Jeff" Divine (born Jeffrey Ayan) and Shaleia Divine (born Megan Plante). After meeting online, the pair began dating before moving in with one another in 2015. After relocating to Hawaii, the pair started a blog called Awakened Intimacy. This eventually evolved into the Twin Flames Universe, an online umbrella organization that offers spiritual guidance and paid healing courses.

The group believes that every person on earth has a "twin flame," a spiritually fated romantic partner or soulmate. As such, the group assigns each of its followers a twin flame and encourages them to pursue these partners romantically. They operate under the pretense of higher, divine knowledge. As such, the Divine couple decides on followers' partners. They then order intense self-criticism if the pair bonding doesn't seem to be working. Furthermore, these explicit pairings sometimes resulted in serious consequences. This has led to upheavals in followers' identities and presentation, extending as far as medical transitions. Other times, the pairing strategies go horribly, leading to restraining orders and charges of stalking.

In response to criticism, the Twin Flames Universe said such allegations "distort our true aims, methods, and curriculums but also misrepresent the autonomy of our community members." Others disagree, claiming the group features all the hallmarks of a cult. Recently, the story of the Twin Flames Universe was highlighted in the Amazon Prime documentary, "Desperately Seeking Soulmate: Escaping Twin Flames Universe."

The emergence of the 7M Films cult traces its origins to the Shekinah Church in Los Angeles. Headed by Pastor Robert Shinn, the church attracted a small but invested group of followers. Over time, Shinn began opening more businesses in the Los Angeles area. Often he employed church members and paid them meager wages. In 2021, Shinn's son Isaiah Shinn started 7M Films. As a talent agency, it quickly signed several prominent social media influencers including TikTok stars the Wilking Sisters.

After moving many of their signees into a single house, Shinn and 7M Films began exerting increasing control over its roster of influencers. First, he picked out songs for their videos. Then, Shinn allegedly began influencing members with religious brainwashing, ordering them to cut off their families. As ex-followers claim, the group commanded followers to "die to" themselves and their families. "This means completely cutting contact with them to ensure that they and their loved ones go to heaven in the afterlife."

While no criminal charges have been brought against Shinn, numerous complaints have. In 2022, Shinn filed a lawsuit claiming trade libel and defamation against former members. He claimed they made "false statements" and launched a campaign to destroy Shinn's credibility "through flagrant, defamatory attacks on social and other media." A year later, several ex-members filed a countersuit accusing Shinn and his organization of "fraud, forced labor, and human trafficking, as well as Robert of sexual battery." While the case is expected to go to trial in July 2025, a recent Netflix series called "Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult," details claims against the group.

The University of Cosmic Intelligence is a vague mashup of Black empowerment and new-age belief systems. Founded by convicted child molester Rashad Jamal, the University of Cosmic Intelligence boasts over 200,000 subscribers on YouTube and thousands more on other platforms. In his videos, Jamal claims to be a "Black activist, scientist, author, philanthropist 3 working hard to raise the vibration of the collective consciousness."

His belief system, however, involves a dizzying constellation of ideas. He claims that Black and Latino people are gods, while white people are not from Earth. Furthermore, he suggests that elite families and presidents are reptilian shapeshifters who eat the blood of the gods. He also suggests the weather is controlled by machines disguised as 5G towers. Using this rhetoric, Jamal has attracted hundreds of followers which he subjects to increasing manipulation and control. Besides asking followers to live off credit cards, he commands them to embrace polyamory, unclothed meditation, and sovereign citizenship status. More concerningly, he asks followers to disconnect from their jobs and families. Remarkably, Jamal conducts his widespread if nebulous organization from prison in Georgia where he is currently serving an 18-year sentence for child sex crimes.

The cult has resulted in dangerous incidents. A few years ago, Adam Simjee and his girlfriend stopped in rural Alabama to help stranded motorists. In response, the two motorists robbed and killed Simjee. Later, authorities discovered that perpetrators Yasmine Hider and Krystal Pinkins were followers of Jamal's University of Cosmic Intelligence cult. Just last year, six followers of the group disappeared from Quality Inn in Florissant, Missouri. For his part, Jamal claims to not know about either event and suggests he's simply a spiritual teacher, not a cult leader.

Another one of the cults that harnesses the power of social media to extend its influence is the Order of the Nine Angles. Other cults on this list undoubtedly harm their followers. The Order of the Nine Angles, however, is a truly dangerous organization for society at large. Much of the information on this group is circumstantial at best. However, the group itself claims to have been established in the Welsh Marshes of Western England during the 1960s. It remained underground until the 1980s when it attracted attention for its growing neo-Nazi ideology and Satanic leanings.

Over the following years, a pseudonymous author named Anton Long published extensive material detailing the beliefs and aims of the cult. In these works, Long and others advocated for positions like accelerationism, left-hand path magic ritual, and terrorism. Eventually, the Order of the Nine Angles found its way onto the internet where it proliferated through secret forums, message boards, and other obscure virtual corners. Due to its advocacy of murder, sexual abuse, and other violent acts, authorities consider the group to be a violent organization.

In recent years, violent crimes have been attributed to O9A followers who congregate on anonymous web channels like Discord and Telegram. Various murders and human sacrifices have been attributed to the group. In 2020, a U.S. paratrooper was arrested for conspiring to kill servicemembers and distribute terrorist literature, leading to the exposure of other armed forces members aligned with the group. Though the Order of the Nine Angles remains an obscure organization, thanks to its splinter-cell-like structure, you no doubt will hear more about the cult as it is connected to crimes around Europe and the United States.