Social media and a new age of cults: Has the internet brought more power to manipulators?

In an era when almost anyone can reach millions on the internet, where is the line drawn between a social media influencer and an influential leader who draws followers to something more sinister? 

Six people are missing out of Missouri after investigators believe they were sucked into what appears to be a “spiritual cult” on social media called the University of Cosmic Intelligence. The group is run by convicted child molester Rashad Jamal. 

They include Ma'Kayla Wickerson, 25, and her 3-year-old daughter, Malaiyah; 24-year-old Mikayla Thompson; 27-year-old Gerrielle German and 3-year-old Ashton Mitchell; and 29-year-old Naaman Williams. They were last seen at a Quality Inn near St. Louis in August.

Jamal is currently in prison on child molestation and cruelty to children convictions. Authorities say he built up an online following of hundreds of thousands of followers on platforms including YouTube, TikTok and Instagram, and shares his theories about Black and Latino people being gods and goddesses, while people of other races and ethnicities are not from this planet. He also shares conspiracy theories in his videos about government controlling the weather and elites and politicians being “reptilian shapeshifters” who drink blood. 

The missing people became increasingly isolated from family members, quit their jobs and were seen engaged in nude meditations outdoors, according to the Berkeley Police Department in Missouri.

The “pot of odd beliefs that’s bubbling outside of mainstream society” has always existed, said Stephen Kent, emeritus professor at the University of Alberta’s sociology department. But experts say with the internet and the dominance of social media, people have easier access to them, and targeted content can drag them further in.

What is a cult?

What sets cults apart from other organized groups is they operate to benefit only a leader, and their authoritarian structures leave no room for critical thinking, according to Dr. Steven Hassan, a renowned cult expert with firsthand experience escaping the Unification Church. Hassan founded the Freedom of Mind Resource Center to help other survivors heal.

“The word ‘cult' is used mostly pejoratively, but for me, the problem is authoritarian cults,” he told USA TODAY.

Other groups with a common set of beliefs, such as religious institutions, encourage values - such as compassion and generosity - that benefit society as a whole, according to Hassan, who practices Judaism and has found comfort in his faith. 

Cult leaders, Hassan said, construct authoritarian rulings that benefit only themselves either financially or by fueling their narcissistic beliefs. They become tyrannical, with no allowance for free will or anyone else's needs.

“If you can create uncertainty, doubt and fear, it makes people’s minds more susceptible to an authoritarian voice,” Hassan said.

Dr. Janja Lalich, a professor emerita of sociology at California State University, Chico and founder of the Lalich Center on Cults and Coercion, was also in what she describes as a political cult. She said in a Wired video that cults have four common characteristics: a leader who is charismatic and a narcissist, a transcendent belief system “that gives you the answer to everything,” a system of control that dictates things like how followers live or what they wear, and a system of influence that draws on emotions such as fear or grief to get followers to comply.

“Probably 99% (of cult leaders) are con artists and they know exactly what they’re doing. Some of them may eventually become delusional because they get away with so much for so long,” Lalich said in the video. “I think most of them are sitting back and laughing at their followers.”

Jamal told USA TODAY in a lengthy statement provided by his publicist, Nataé Robinson, that his YouTube and other social media posts are intended to share his opinions "ranging from metaphysics to quantum physics to marine biology, Topography, Philosophy, Religion, Black History, World History, Yoga Meditation and Crystal healing."

"I want to categorically state that I am not a cult leader... I am not involved in any form of cult activities, and my teachings are focused on enlightenment, not control," the statement said.

In the statement, he also denied molesting a child, for which he was convicted in Georgia, and said he believes he has been falsely persecuted because of his teachings: "A black activist like myself speaking out against Oppression and racism never stood a chance."

How social media changed the way cults reach followers

Before the internet, people interested in cults largely communicated and found groups through individual contacts, alternative bookstores, a radio broadcast or lecture, Kent said. Now, the same groups can connect with each other from their couches by lifting little more than a finger on their phones. 

In one case, a joke about birds operating as a tool of government surveillance started as satire and festered into a conspiracy theory – one Jamal also proposed on social media. 

However, those who are mildly curious will also be able to find objective information cautioning against dangerous ideologies through the same online platforms, he noted.

“The dangers depend upon how one uses the internet and information,” Kent said. 

Hassan suspects other agents are also at work.

“If you look at (Jamal's) YouTube, how did he get so many followers? Was it really organic, or were there bad actors amplifying it, or was it just algorithms of YouTube trying to make money?” Hassan said.

From Russia to Christian nationalists, “bad actors” encompass a wide breadth of entities with a variety of agendas that benefit from inducing chaos and promoting anti-government views in the U.S., Hassan said. One of them may have amplified Jamal’s online presence and boosted his platform by manipulating the algorithm.

“There’s geopolitical forces at work here,” he said. 

How algorithms can draw people in deeper

The algorithms social media sites use to determine which videos and content to put in users’ feeds are designed to target what will pull them further into the sites, entice them to click on ads and make purchases so companies running the sites make money.

The trail of breadcrumbs that algorithms create leads people to like-minded individuals and, in some cases, more extreme beliefs. 

“The internet makes cults more dangerous, because people who may be initially curious get dragged down rabbit holes through algorithms,” Kent said. 

The average American spends nearly seven hours online per day, including about two and a half hours on social media, which Hassan suspects is partly driven by the addictive dopamine hit that companies bolster by pushing engaging content tailored to viewers.

“I want people to become good consumers and ask questions,” Hassan said, also calling for regulation of companies that run the web.

How did the missing people get caught up in a cult?

Jamal, whose full name is Rashad Jamal White, denied knowing the missing people and said in his statement he is "devastated by these distressing events."

"The narrative that links me to their disappearance is false and unfounded," he said.

Police in Berkeley, Missouri, have said the missing people were followers of Jamal on social media, shared his content and referenced his teachings. Their behaviors included engaging in polygamy, changing their names to "a spiritual God or Goddess" and "referring to their mother as a 'shell' that brought their spirit into the universe," police said.

It's possible the missing people never had any in-person contact with Jamal, Kent said, because the social media influencer has been imprisoned and was previously living in a different state. But that doesn't mean they were not among his followers, Kent said.

“That’s one of the consequences of the internet: People can feel like they know a leader even if a leader doesn’t know them,” he said. 

While cults are often thought to only attract a fringe group of people, Hassan warned virtually anyone is susceptible, though cult leaders may take advantage of weak moments. They use behavioral tactics to gradually rope people in, such as sleep deprivation, manipulative language and instilling irrational fears to prevent recruits from leaving or fighting back. And in the age of the internet, recruiting a wide breadth of people is made even easier for cult leaders, Hassan said.

Others of Jamal’s followers have been arrested for a range of crimes, including confrontations with police or related to their beliefs. Jamal has said in videos he does not promote any violence.

Kent said if the missing people have "gone underground," they will likely eventually be found, whether through a tip to law enforcement, posting to an online platform, getting pulled over while driving or having a run-in with a bank. But they could also be unreachable if something tragic happened to them, he said.

“Sooner or later, this mystery’s going to be solved,” Kent said. “Let’s just hope more people aren’t harmed when the story’s all over.” 

Surviving a cult

Some of the missing people's family members told USA TODAY earlier this week that they were shocked by the disappearances, but said there were warning signs.

"We still believe that everything's going to be OK and they're going to come back home safely," Cartisha Morgan, Ma'Kayla Wickerson's mother, said. "I just wish I knew where they were."

Lalich said in the Wired video that people on the outside of a cult should make sure to be a "safe haven" for anyone who might be involved in a cult to know they can go to.

"It's not easy to leave a cult," Lalich said in the Wired video. "It's one of the hardest things someone's ever gonna do."