How conspiracy theories became intertwined with prejudice and paranoia across the globe abc.net.au - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from abc.net.au Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Gemma Conroy, ABC Science Reporter
Analysis - For two years, Jitarth Jadeja spent most of his time in the darkest corners of the web reading about conspiracy theories.
A person wears a QAnon sweatshirt during a pro-Trump rally on October 3, 2020 in the borough of Staten Island in New York City.
Photo: AFP / 2020 Getty Images
Jadeja, 33, was an avid follower of QAnon - a baseless, far-right theory that started by alleging then-US president Donald Trump was fighting against a secret group of elites who ran a global child sex trafficking ring.
For hours each day, Jadeja devoured cryptic predictions shared by an anonymous online poster called Q on the imageboard website 4chan.