Web security company Cloudflare
pulled its services from 8chan,
causing the site to go dark.
We'll be down
for about ten days.
Ten days of darkness.
My campaign
has been quite effective.
I was becoming increasingly
convinced that Ron was behind Q.
Uh, Q has not tried to
get in touch with me.
But a lot of people
are asking me about Q.
They didn't ask about Q.
Interesting.
Do you connect Q
to those shootings?
Not necessarily Q, but
definitely the n*zi boards.
They're winking and nodding
to the Nazis.
And on the other hand, they're
in Congress, talking about
the First Amendment.
Fred was on an all-out
media blitz.
Attacking his former bosses--
The first thing they should do
is stop treating it like
it's just a game.
I'm gonna put it back online.
They'll have to turn all the
electricity off in the world
to stop me.
It's gonna be, like--
Blowing on a dandelion,
and spreading the seeds.
Every 17 years,
a great awakening occurs.
Rising from the Earth,
the once-dormant cicada
will metamorphosize
to its final form.
Hello. We are looking for
highly intelligent individuals.
To find them,
we have devised a test.
There is a message
hidden in this image.
Find it, and it will lead you
on the road to finding us.
Good luck.
Cicada 3301.
It's known as
the most elaborate
and mysterious puzzle
of the Internet Age.
It dates back to 2012.
Now, like QAnon,
Cicada 3301 originated
with a post on 4chan,
and it prompted
an unknown number
of internet denizens
to try and solve
an increasingly difficult
series of puzzles.
Let me give you an example.
If you took this first message,
put it into a text-only editor,
you would see a hidden clue--
"Caesar says," followed by
a seemingly random code.
And that code
actually references
a famous cryptography tool
called a Caesar Cipher.
Plug in the code,
and it would produce
a web address.
You have done well.
This would eventually lead
you to a phone number
that provided
GPS coordinates
Multiply all three of
these numbers together
to find the next step.
And this is where
Cicada would transform.
Howdy, folks. This one was
just outside the subway
What had started as just
a game on the internet
had crawled out from
behind the screen,
sending participants
from around the globe
out into the real world,
in search of the next clue.
No one knows the true
purpose of Cicada.
Was it just an amusing game?
Was it a recruitment test
for a government agency?
Or a way of collecting
brilliant individuals
for some secret society?
But what we do know
is that someone named
Thomas Schoenberger
stepped out from
behind the shadows,
claiming to be involved.
Thomas was a prolific
composer and pianist.
In fact, he wrote the music
you're listening to right now.
But his philosophies
behind Cicada
were less about a fun game
and more geared towards
altering society as a whole.
Thomas requested that rather
than appear on camera,
we use a more suitable
representation.
Cicada instructs
the solvers to self-reflect.
An interior renaissance is
more profound than
external revolution.
You know, we're only using
10 or 11% of our brains.
Imagine what it would be
to, to use 30 or 40%.
Cicada's unique formula
of collecting
like-minded individuals
through an internet game
attracted interest from others
looking for innovative ways
to awaken the masses.
It seems one of
those people
was an Anon who goes by
the name Courtney Tubbs,
better known as
IWillRedPillU.
She was in a chat room,
and asking me,
"What do you mean
by this puzzle?"
As you may recall,
Courtney Tubbs had worked as
a writer for The Goldwater,
a website owned
by the Watkinses.
And these conversations
with Thomas,
they took place right
before Q got started,
just as Cicada
was creating puzzles
featuring
"Alice in Wonderland"
falling down
a rabbit hole,
a phrase repeated
dozens of times
in the earliest QDrops.
Hey, how you doing?
- This is my new place.
- Oh great!
You know,
you should've got 16Q.
It's right across
the way there.
Like, it's right there.
In the wake of three
mass shootings,
all associated with 8chan,
Fred had been trying to
destroy the very monster
that he had created.
I think 8chan is a blight
on the internet, on society.
I think they are
totally incapable
of running it in
a way that's positive.
8chan was where
the Christchurch sh**ter
had found an audience
to celebrate
his white supremacist message.
But, there was
an interesting twist here.
New Zealand had commissioned
an expansive study,
and it found that
the Christchurch sh**ter
had been radicalized
not on 8chan,
but by the algorithms
on YouTube and Facebook.
Blood and soil!
Which lead him to increasingly
extreme content
and personalities.
Even though
the report's findings
showed that 8chan
wasn't quite as culpable
as originally thought,
Fred wasn't ready to let up
on his w*r against
Ron and Jim's site.
It affects my life
in a big way
each time one of these
shootings happens.
And they don't give a f*ck about
how it affects me,
you know?
And, look, maybe that's
very narcissistic,
whatever, you know, but
not only do they
not care about me,
they don't care about
all the people dying.
I just wanna be done with this,
and, look, if they shut it down,
I have no reason
to go after them.
Do you feel like if
he changed the name
that you would stop,
or would that not be enough?
I might. I might stop, yeah.
Um--
Is it mostly that
8chan ties back to you?
Yes, yes.
Up until now,
it seemed that Fred
had been hellbent
on destroying 8chan.
But if all he really needed
was for the site's
name to be changed,
that seemed like something
the 8chan guys might agree to.
A crusade.
And nothing--
nothing we do is gonna
be able to stop him
until he satisfies all
the conditions of his mission,
so the name's
gonna be changed.
That's guaranteed.
And he's completely
out of the picture.
Right, like a fresh start.
That's what he wants so, uh,
hopefully that works out.
That'd be nice.
The next day, Tom set up
a meeting with Fred
to broker a peace deal.
It had been almost a year
since they'd seen
each other in person.
It's definitely
been a while.
Yeah, I know.
We saw each other
three shootings ago.
-Alright, I'll let you talk.
-Well, I don't know
how much we actually disagree.
I'm happy as long as
you know,
it's not 8chan anymore.
Or on that domain
or on related domains.
Yeah, it has to be
put to bed because,
as a brand--
- Well, doesn't it?
- Well, yeah.
If the users
are gonna move
to a new site,
we have to let them know
that the old one is dead,
so that they
give up on it.
Thank you.
I'm just glad that
8chan's not coming back.
And, you know,
whatever you name it,
my name's not on it.
I have nothing to do with it.
-It's like absolution.
-Yeah,
I think none of us want
to be back here again,
-like, rehashing this
same drama. Yeah.
-Yeah. Right.
What's the new
site gonna be called?
-I don't know yet.
-You don't know?
-Really?
-Well, there's--
it's down to
like a top five.
Yeah? Can I know
the top three?
-You can't.
-I can't.
-Sworn to secrecy.
-You know I would put
them all on Twitter, so
- Yeah.
- Let's just be honest.
You know, even though I was
on a crusade against 8chan,
it's nice
talking to you.
See, we still get along.
Sorry.
You okay?
Sorry
Went down
the wrong pipe.
We should get a selfie also.
You wanna have
a selfie with me on your?
-We can do that.
-Really?
-Okay, cool.
-Alright, cool. Can I see?
Yeah.
Oh! Great!
I can't wait to put that
on my-- my account.
Jim has already had
like this plan to attack.
But now, it's not necessary.
Hello.
It seems like things
are settled now,
and I wanna keep it that way,
so I'm just kind of
pumping the brakes.
Well, as long as Fred
stays quiet,
then Jim should follow suit.
What's the new site
gonna be called?
- Oh!
- I don't know yet.
- You don't know?
- Can I know the top three?
- You can't.
- You know I would
put them all on Twitter.
I think he recorded
the entire conversation.
Maybe.
Cicada 3301 attracted more
than the likes of
an employee at 8chan.
It seemed another individual
had been in touch with Thomas
looking for inspiration.
Tracy Beanz,
she was asking me a lot
of questions about Cicada.
I don't know where to look.
Can I go like this? Hi.
Tracy Beanz was the very
first QTuber on the scene.
Let's just do the Q video
that I was gonna do today.
- I'm gonna flip you.
Considered
by her followers
to be, quote,
the "godmother
of the movement."
And her support did not
go unnoticed by Trump's
embattled former
National Security Advisor
General Michael Flynn.
I could tell she
was taking notes.
Flynn was well versed in
the art of irregular warfare.
It seemed he understood how to
tap social media influencers,
even giving them
a catchy codename.
We have an army
of digital soldiers.
I think that Flynn was
watching and thinking,
"Wow. Uh, you know,
"This Cicada thing
is taking off.
"Okay, this is what
we need to do
for this digital
soldier model."
It's a really important clue.
Tracy Beanz,
she's communicating with me
and asking me questions,
and she's running
to General Flynn
six weeks before
the launch of Q.
However, Tracy Beanz
wasn't the only QTuber
who may have been
exchanging information
with ex-military sources.
Right now, we're in
the midst of a civil w*r.
It's a cold civil w*r,
but it's happening as we speak.
Craig's most constant
source was Nick Noe,
a self-proclaimed
Benghazi whistle-blower
and Air Force veteran.
It's gonna be patriots
against whatever this
fake, you know,
patriotic movement
is on the left.
And, uh yeah.
We're gonna--
we're gonna m*rder them all.
I love how you even--
you even smirked at that.
Nick had been feeding
Craig intel for months,
and reinforcing
that Q was legit.
It is a psychological operation
that is ran at
the highest levels,
and the reason
that it's important
that it's at this
anonymous message board--
Start over.
So the reason that they use
the anonymous message--
Nick was representing
the interests of a retired
Army Major General
who'd worked hard to
maintain his influence
since returning
to civilian life.
I'm joined live
by Paul Vallely.
He's a retired US Army
Major General.
Do you believe
that military people,
they should get
behind Donald Trump?
Yes, I do because he will
hire the best people
and put them in the staff in
the Pentagon and intelligence.
Thank you very much.
In addition to being an early
and ardent supporter
of Donald Trump,
General Vallely had
connections to Steve Bannon,
Michael Flynn,
and Jerome Corsi.
Before, we had
a, a weak President.
He has even been openly hostile
towards the federal government.
And perhaps most importantly,
back in the '80s,
Vallely basically wrote
the book on military psyops.
Short for psychological
operation,
a psyop is a non-violent
military campaign
that aims to manipulate
a population's thinking
by hijacking
information channels.
Or more simply,
pushing a false narrative
to the masses
in hopes of making it true.
Try to get the message
out that President Trump
What I'm gonna do is
I'm gonna play this.
It's gonna take
about 20 minutes
For General Vallely's
next campaign,
Nick was here to plant a seed.
One that might harm
Joe Biden's chances
at the Presidency.
I'm putting together
a bipartisan coalition
to go to Iran
to discuss
Bin Laden's transfer
to the United States.
Nick claimed to have
an audio recording that proved
Osama Bin Laden
was still alive,
and that the Obama
administration
had faked his death.
Okay, so CIA director stops him.
They wanted to hand over
Bin Laden to us,
just, oh, here you go!
The State Department
cooked up this plan.
They said,
"No. We're gonna have him--
You can put him in Pakistan,
so we can k*ll him,"
and get re-elected basically.
Nick said that he would try
to put me in touch
with General Vallely.
I wanted to know more
about the military
or ex-military's involvement
and interest in Q.
I think your guys' best bet,
and this is being like just
totally playing it straight,
Qchan I think is the first one.
Okay, yeah.
He's just like
tweet storming
the whole conversation.
So this is
becoming a press release now.
Yeah.
Fred has turned into a reporter,
announcing 8chan is dead
and not coming back.
I just know that that's gonna
make things blow up.
We're dealing with a lot
of volatile personalities.
They're all crisscrossing.
It seemed Fred was trying
to scoop the 8chan guys
in an effort to both
confuse Q's followers
and to thwart the launch
of their rebranded site,
the name of which they
had hidden from him
with good reason.
8chan would become 8kun.
And this graphic they created,
you know, of a storm
wasn't exactly
a subtle reference.
It seemed that they
were angling to preserve
just one community--
QAnon.
But the name change
did have an effect
on the normies of the world.
I actually just got
a text last night.
"Hey, um,
is 8chan still online?"
You won.
Yeah,
but I feel like
I didn't totally win.
I mean, I think I'm winning.
I just
for me, the name change,
it's not different enough.
Like, people don't have
any idea where to go.
They don't know that
it exists anymore.
Timothy McLaughlin, "Wired"
definitely knows.
-Sure, yeah, but--
-Okay?
Drew Harwell, "Washington Post,"
-definitely knows.
-But in terms of
the average citizen
like who was associating
8chan with all of
the shootings and with you
Okay, but, but, but, but,
but, but, but, but, but, but
if there's another sh**ting,
McLaughlin, Harwell,
Roose, Kevin Roose,
"New York Times,"
they are gonna be writing
the articles.
They know
that this is all bullshit,
and they are gonna write it
exactly how I'm saying.
That 8chan and 8kun
are basically alter egos.
-Fred, you-you got
what you asked for.
-Yes.
That doesn't mean
to stop asking!
If I'm winning,
why should I stop?
Fred started a new
round of attacks
that were repelling service
providers left and right.
And even though the 8kun
guys had a new name,
they couldn't seem
to get the site online.
We offered the olive
branch to Fred.
We met him in good faith,
and then he continued
to attack us
from many angles.
Fred even went after
the domain registrars
where Jim might've
purchased 8kun.com
or 8kun.org
and pushed them
to revoke ownership.
It's really causing
a lot of problems for us.
Literally whoa.
Oh, we almost died.
What he's doing is
Literally,
what he's doing is
the textbook
definition of libel.
Just look at the camera
and like do poses.
After months of battling Fred
and tirelessly searching
for a service provider,
8kun had won.
They finally managed
to get online.
It's our first break
in like three months, so
Yeah.
The site looked and functioned
basically the same as 8chan,
as if it was ported
from the '90s.
Except the only people
interested enough
to stick around
were mostly QAnons.
Yeah, this is perfect.
- Nice to meet you, Reina.
- Nice to meet you.
This Reina girl's cute.
Little chubby,
but cute.
Aren't you satisfied?
I'm not sa--
I'm never sa--
It's like, do heroin users
get satisfied?
Yeah, Q posted a few hours
after we went live.
-So he didn't waste any time?
-No, he was immediate.
I couldn't even see the website,
and he's already posting.
Due to some
technical difficulties,
it was basically impossible
for users to post on 8kun
during its first
few days back online.
Yet somehow, Q managed to.
He could tell the website's
not running well.
But he still went out
of his way to make posts,
probably to calm everybody
or whatever he's doing.
I don't know
I'm not Q, I don't know
who Q is, so
No idea.
I don't even--
I barely even follow it,
honestly.
After three months
of being silenced,
you'd expect that Q would've
come up with a backup plan.
Some way to move on
from its secure tripcode
for a more stable
platform elsewhere.
But Q stayed put,
remaining loyal
to the Watkinses.
It just seems so weird to me
that Q would tie himself
so hard to 8chan.
This is why I think Q
and 8chan are much
deeper connected.
There were also some
other noticeable connections
- that were more on the surface.
- Do you like my watch?
-What's-- what is this watch?
-This is a watch
that Ronald sold me.
One Bitcoin gets you one
Omega Seamaster.
Not that I'm gonna be
doing any diving.
Expensive watches show up
in multiple QDrops,
often accompanied by
a fountain pen and the phrase,
"The clock is ticking."
Anons believe that this
was further proof
of Q's close
proximity to Trump.
And he told me
it's a great way to move
money across borders
'cause you're allowed
to wear it on the plane,
and it's worth,
you know, whatever.
Not only would he wear watches,
sometimes he would
pull out pocket watches
and show them to me.
I don't wanna sound
like I'm crazy,
but when I saw the pen
and the watch, I was like,
"Oh my god!
They're speaking right to me!"
Every day is a great day
when you have
a brand new Marlin Pen.
Do you think if Ron
is actually Q
that he would ever
admit it to me?
I think he wants
the credit deep down.
He wants people to
think that he's smart,
and he pulled something off.
'Cause they can definitely
pull off a secret project
for this long.
They do have a lot of
experience playing these games.
Look at that beautiful baby.
Look at that beautiful baby.
Wow, what a baby!
What a baby!
Throughout 2019,
Q had been slowly making
its way into the mainstream.
And now, its ideas were
ready for the limelight.
Remember that first AMPFest?
You can put a few
different pieces together
The 2018 New Right gathering
that felt more like
a middle school talent show?
- Stand up! Stand up!
Stand up! Stand up!
Well, AMPFest had become
the new face of
the Republican Party.
It drew in more than
a thousand people
with Q-friendly speakers
uniting behind a key issue.
First and foremost
is the obstacle
of internet censorship.
All sharing the stage
with Donald Trump Jr.
I typed in my handle.
I came up on page six!
They can do that to me?
Who can't they,
and more importantly,
who aren't they doing it to?
USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA
Hey, this is Cullen.
After a few days
of phone tag
How'd your game of golf go?
I was finally able to get
in touch with General Vallely.
I'm trying to figure out
what I can ask you
or what you can say about,
you know, the QAnon
um, operation.
Okay.
Is, is that-- is the Army
of Northern Virginia,
is that something
that's a known entity?
Okay. Alright.
QAnon's not working
as part of that,
just getting
information through it?
Okay.
Mm-hmm.
- First of all
A private network
of ex-military guys
curating intel
for the President and
his anonymous buddy Q?
It sounded like something
out of a Tom Clancy novel.
Well, I have eyes on the ground
that work with me
The problem with
someone like Vallely
is it's hard to tell if
they're feeding you
false information
in hopes that you'll
later repeat it as fact.
You know,
running a psyop on you.
- And as far as
But it was clear
that Vallely's group
was coordinating with
a number of other networks,
all actively supporting Q.
And these groups tend to
intersect with other groups
that have similar ambitions.
Groups like Cicada 3301.
And upon prying a little deeper
into Thomas Schoenberger,
it became clear that he had
a much more shadowy past
than I'd previously thought.
- I've been digging into Biden
Now,
Thomas had suggested
that one of Q's
earliest promoters,
Tracy Beanz,
was taking Cicada's ideas
directly to General Flynn.
This was irregular
warfare at its finest.
I couldn't verify this claim.
And it seemed that Thomas
may have been
deflecting attention away
from his own
business relationships.
You know, I did some
military work
with Bijan Kian.
In 2011,
Thomas claims that he
and Iranian-born entrepreneur
Bijan Kian
ran a spy operation together
in the Middle East
on behalf of the Pentagon.
A few years later
Bijan would join forces
with General Flynn
to start the Flynn Intel Group.
With these connections,
was Cicada playing a role
in a larger psyop?
One that overlapped
with ex-military networks
to bolster the Q narrative
from the beginning?
How can I put this?
I'm not a professional
soldier.
But
I happen to have, um,
certain talents.
How in the world does a pianist
get tangled up in
something like that?
Well,
I, you know, I've done
more than just piano
in my life.
In less than a month's time,
I'm gonna be back in court for
Jim's naturalization petition.
Of course on the opposition.
Amidst all the drama,
Jim was trying to naturalize
to become a Filipino citizen.
We have some great arguments
for why it should
not be approved.
The Filipino immigration
system allows witnesses
to object to a person
trying to become a citizen.
Fred hoped to appear
as a witness
at Jim's upcoming
naturalization hearing,
in order to derail the process.
Do you think at this point,
like, you've pushed
Ron and Jim to the max,
or is there more room to go?
I think, given the current
circumstances, that
I can't push them anymore.
That wasn't exactly true.
When 8kun contracted
a service provider in China,
Fred saw an opportunity.
He alerted the company that
Ron's site was home to a board
promoting Hong Kong's
independence protests,
figuring that
the Chinese Communist Party
wouldn't look
too kindly on that.
And shortly thereafter,
the site was booted.
Adding to
the general weirdness,
Ron had once told me that
he liked to sing opera,
and suggested performing
a song to set the mood.
Then, Fred took it
to the next level
and doxxed Ron's wife,
a Chinese national.
Even the QAnon debunker
Travis View
thought it was ruthless.
You don't just f*ck
with somebody's family
and expect not to
get counter-punched.
If you bully me for months
and months and months,
I'm gonna f*ck you up.
I'm gonna stay quiet
about it until it happens.
With Fred's attacks
continuing to escalate,
Ron and Jim had a new plan.
Fred had poked a lot
of fun at Jim on Twitter,
but it seems
he hadn't considered
that speech isn't quite as
protected in the Philippines.
In fact, the Philippines
considers something called
cyber libel to be
a rather serious crime.
And Jim's lawyers had honed
in on a particular tweet
that they felt could support
a strong cyber libel case.
Of all things,
Fred had called Jim "senile"
for wearing a Q pin
in front of Congress.
And so began the case
of James Arthur Watkins versus
Fredrick Robert Brennan.
A lot of people expected
Jim to file something.
But what was filed,
uh, shocked me
because it's a libel suit
that is so ridiculous
back in the US,
a judge would throw it out.
The legal standards here
are a little bit different.
But, even here,
it's a high bar
for that suit to try to clear.
But the Filipino government
had to decide
if it wanted to
pursue an indictment,
a process that often
takes months.
It's a matter of opinion,
and, uh,
opinions can't be libelous.
All of these
attack strategies
seemed like part of a game
where actual beliefs
took a backseat to winning.
When you're jumping, punch,
-and it will give you
a little boost.
-Wow.
Okay, so this is like
the world of 8kun, basically?
Basically.
They saw their lives as a game.
So much so that Ron
and Tom had created
a literal video game
based on the world of 8kun.
Jim is called
the Pig Merchant.
So, see there's all
the enslaved humans?
And there's Jim sitting
on his throne.
- So who is Ron in the game?
- Can we see him?
- Oh, Ron, we can't see him.
- He's at the very end.
After you beat, um,
the Pig Merchant,
then the area of
Codemonkey gets revealed.
And that's, like,
the final final boss.
It's interesting that Ron
would cast himself as
the secret final boss
in a video game
of his own design.
Ronald Watkins is
related to Q somehow.
What do you see are
the primary clues
that Ron and Jim are behind it?
Bending over backwards to help
Q at every opportunity.
But also the pen and the watch.
You know what I see
is a weird clue here?
Ron and Jim have shared
almost every obsession
of theirs with me
except for watches.
Oh, see?
Why don't you bring them up?
"Nice watch!
Do you collect watches?"
It has escalated to
a full-scale rivalry.
Sure, rivalry. Yeah.
I mean, what would you call it?
Maybe w*r is a little bit
going too far, but
I woke up at 5:00 to go
to a naturalization hearing,
and I'm not the person that's
supposed to be naturalized.
I'm going to a hearing
on my citizenship.
Just an opportunity to wear
nice clothes and go to court.
Usually,
the naturalization process
is pretty straightforward,
especially for
a wealthy American.
But, with the help
of his lawyer,
Fred was hoping
to derail everything
by testifying against
Jim's character.
What would you say
to him if you see him?
He's gotta be
the one to engage.
It's just not smart.
Whoa.
They're gonna be like,
"We're being harassed
by this libeler
and previous employee,"
blah, blah, blah.
I feel like maybe
a little bit nervous,
but also pretty confident.
I think it's most likely
gonna get dismissed today.
Careful now.
You gotta watch out
for gangsters.
-Is he?
-Jim.
It's gonna be
an interesting day.
Alright, we definitely
gotta go then.
- How did it go?
- Uh
Yeah.
Did you see Jim come out?
I did, yeah.
Where?
Honestly, he could've
walked out of there a citizen.
The judge asked me,
"Mr. Brennan,
where's your attorney?"
- Was the lawyer here today?
- No.
He probably won't even be
representing me next time
'cause of what happened
today, so that's it.
The hearing was a bust.
Without his lawyer present,
Fred wasn't allowed to
voice his opposition.
Jim was one step closer to
becoming a Filipino citizen.
Yeah, we're just gonna
leave 'cause, honestly,
I might end up on
/r/PublicFreakout if we don't.
You know that subreddit?
This is why millennials
can't buy f*cking houses!
f*ck!
What the--
She never said anything
after that f*cking nut!
I couldn't recall seeing
Fred this upset ever.
He even compared this
moment to how he felt after
the El Paso Walmart sh**ting,
a sentiment that didn't
earn him many likes.
That sucked.
Honestly, I think we were
really close to losing.
f*ck.
Are you concerned that
because just Jim has more
sort of access and money
that he'll be able to
make the libel case
against you stick?
I don't know.
Got it.
Mm!
Jim seemed
particularly buoyant
after his immigration hearing.
Jim, you're not
wearing a watch today.
You know, don't you normally
have a watch on?
Oh! I forgot my watch.
Maybe it fell off
when you were walking--
No, I forgot it. That's all.
That's a weird thing to forget.
It's like a
Well, I take it off
when I take a shower,
and I just forgot
to put it back on.
Do you have a lot of watches
or just like one main watch?
I have a lot of watches.
I've been collecting them for,
like, 30 years, you know.
The next morning,
I was headed home to LA.
Obviously, if the libel
thing moves forward,
I'll be back
here for that.
Well
You're not worried
at all about
the libel case affecting you
when you're running
a free speech website?
Like the kinda irony to that?
America. The greatest nation
this world has ever known.
Back in the States,
ex-military figures
were not the only ones looking
to harness Q's influence.
Congressional candidates
like Lauren Boebert
and Marjorie Taylor Greene
were openly embracing Q.
I'm Marjorie Greene,
Republican for Congress.
Save America. Stop Socialism.
As were a slew of
Washington insiders.
Excuse me. Sorry.
It's a bad time
to come in here.
Two of them even
hit up Ron directly.
Zelda, come on!
And Ron wanted me
to document the call.
This call
is being recorded.
- Nice to meet you.
- My name is Jason Sullivan.
I also have a very good friend
of mine that's on the line
who is a legendary
former lead technical director
of the NSA, Bill Binney.
Hello? Bill here.
Jason Sullivan
was Roger Stone's chief
social media strategist.
Working together
with Bill Binney,
Sullivan had developed a tool
that gamed
Twitter's algorithms,
allowing for anyone
of his choosing
to massively
amplify their message.
This is not a sales call.
This is just a, you know,
get an introduction
and see if there's any ways
or any things we can--
to do to help the cause
of the Great Awakening.
If, if, uh,
Q is trying to utilize
or optimize
abilities on Twitter,
we can make 'em better.
We've got proprietary tools
that can help
recruit their armies
and get everybody
on the same sheet of music
to where we're all
disseminating together
and our splash in the pond
is getting bigger and bigger
every time we drop something.
Ron's the, you know,
the chief admin
that's creating 8kun,
and that's where Q
is dropping stuff,
so it looks like
these two are,
you know, you know,
working together in some
way, shape, or form.
Oh, so now you're thinking
I'm a key player in this?
I'm not-- I'm not
insinuating anything.
The bottom line at
the end of the day is
I wanna help the President
of the United States
get his word out.
The President himself would be
helping get Q's
word out soon after.
In December of 2019,
facing possible impeachment,
Donald Trump did
what he does best.
Trump retweeted a massive
flurry of QAnon accounts,
all in a single weekend,
shifting news coverage
away from his problems
and providing a solid
endorsement of Q.
And remember that story
about Osama Bin Laden
still being alive?
Months later,
this would be the end result.
Just this week, you retweeted
to your 87 million followers
a conspiracy theory
that Joe Biden orchestrated
to have SEAL Team 6,
the Navy SEAL Team 6,
k*lled to cover up
the fake death
of Bin Laden.
-I'll put it out there.
People can decide--
-I don't get that!
You're the President!
You're not, like,
someone's crazy uncle!
During the home stretch
of the Presidential race,
Trump retweeted
the Bin Laden claim.
A claim not provided by
US intelligence agencies,
but by the same dude
feeding Craig scoops
in between burps.
The descendant of
an internet game,
Q now had real power.
The President needed Q.
The political class
was reaching out to Ron.
Retired military operatives
were planting
intel with QTubers.
The line between
the game and reality
had blurred.
Hey, Fred.
Fred?
Hey Fred, are you there?
I've been crying
for two days straight.
Fred? sh*t
My whole life has
just fallen apart.
I don't know. It's not good.
But, I don't know,
I guess I deserve it.
Let's walk back a little
and just tell me--
tell me what's
going on right now.
Well, two days ago,
my lawyer, you know,
messaged me.
"There is going to be
a case opened against you
at the trial court,
and that the government
is gonna prosecute."
Fred's lawyer somehow
got advance notice
that the cyber libel
indictment was about to drop.
There's a mandatory
minimum of six years.
Maximum 12,
if they find you guilty
of cyber libel.
I've talked to all these
lawyers by now,
and they tell me
to leave the country.
I guess I'm just
gonna have to try to
rebuild in California,
which I never thought
I would be doing, but
Or crash at
my mother's house
and cry for six months
and do drugs, right?
I don't really know
what I can do, bro.
I mean, you're still
in pretty good spirits
all things considered.
That's good
'cause I feel like sh*t.
My wife kinda
asked me like
like, "Why did you really
do all this, you know?
"Do you just wanna be famous?
You're the one that
decided to keep it going."
Why has it got me?
Yeah.
I told my wife
I f*cked up our lives,
and I don't know
that it can be fixed.
I think I have to just give
up on this fight 'cause
I don't really think
I changed anything
in the long run.
How, how can I be helpful
at this point?
If you could come and just
kinda help me get
my sh*t on the plane
-and get there.
-Okay.
And, of course,
I will pay.
I'll bring that watch.
We can go pawn it together.
I was gonna say, you
should bring the watch.
No, I have to, like,
I'm running out of money.
So, if you could
be here on Monday,
that would be perfect for me.
Okay.
Thank you. Bye-bye.
Man.
Rivalries--
rivalries suck.
With his condition,
if Fred went to jail,
he'd almost certainly die.
While cyber libel may be
a big deal in the Philippines,
no one deserves
a death sentence for
something they said.
So I felt like I had
no choice but to help.
The police could come looking
for Fred at any moment.
We had no time to lose.
20E
20E.
First time I've ever
actually been to his place.
We've had to hide it
every time before this
to prevent doxxing.
Hey there.
-Hey.
-Hey, guys.
- What's up?
- What's up with you?
Uh
I messed up my entire life.
I've been in a really bad
place these last few days.
There was an entire day
here where I researched
almost everything
there is to know
about a detention center
in Camp Bagong Diwa,
known as
Bicutan Detention Center.
I've been so broken down
by this case.
It just felt like my
whole reality fell apart.
I had this mental
divide in my mind
between like the digital world
and the real world.
And for me, it really
didn't break down
until this happened.
I always just thought that
the internet is the internet,
and I kinda had,
I guess, a kind of
split personality.
What I did on the internet
was different
from what I did in real life.
And internet stuff,
like 8chan stuff,
I didn't really see it
as affecting the real world.
You know what?
There's no difference at all.
The internet is the real world.
That's why I suggested,
you know,
it's better for you to leave
in the meantime, you know?
Fred decided to give
the lawyer who had bailed
on the immigration hearing
a second chance.
This is definitely
the way to go is for
him to leave tomorrow.
Yeah, for-for to leave.
It would be for
his best interest.
The Bureau of Immigration,
it's supposed to issue him
the I-Card, you know?
It's like
the entry exit permit,
you know?
You cannot leave
without the I-Card.
The lawyer said Fred could be
issued an I-Card
at the airport.
All we had to do
was get there early
and pick it up at customs.
Our flight was at 9:00 AM,
so if we left by 2:00 AM,
we'd be good to go.
Traffic in Manila is terrible.
f*ck!
Oh my f*cking,
f*ck this f*cking thing.
Okay.
So the power's out
in my unit right now.
It's 2:40 in the morning.
We're about to
head to the airport
to try to get out of here.
I don't know if
Fred's power is also out.
I just sent him a message.
Okay, here we go.
It's 26 flights?
Oh my god!
Oh god.
Fred's elevators
better be working.
I can't even imagine.
Hey. Hey, Fred.
Hey.
I am exhausted.
I am sweating profusely.
There's power in your place?
Okay.
Thank God!
Hey, hey, hey.
Sorry, are we going too fast?
Goodbye, Philippines.
I'm feeling really
good about leaving,
even though I don't want to.
Even though I love this place,
and I'm gonna miss it a lot.
Right, time for
your daring escape.
What did my attorney say?
"You're not escaping
anything, Fred."
Sorry, sorry, sorry.
Bye-bye.
Bye, May!
You were such a good caregiver
for many, many years, okay?
Little did we know,
the indictment
was being written up
as we were arriving.
So, we will be
transferring you
We dropped off Fred's luggage
and headed to Customs.
I shut down cameras
for this stretch.
It was already a precarious
enough situation.
We were pulled into
an interrogation room.
In a country
like the Philippines,
with an autocratic leader
who has a history
of k*lling journalists,
this was just
about the last place
we wanted to be.
The officials weren't
speaking in English,
so I couldn't tell if Fred was
about to be carted off to jail.
It turns out, the problem
was with the I-Card.
They just aren't
issued at the airport.
And the office that has them
was two hours away
in Manila traffic.
Fred was f*cked.
- Okay.
Hey,
I got some good news!
- What is it?
- It's actually really good news.
They're gonna deliver
the actual I-Card
- to the airport. Yes.
- Here?
Okay.
But it's not gonna
get here in time.
The lawyer claimed he was
sending somebody with an I-Card
which seemed
questionable at best.
But there was no other choice
except to sit around
and wait for it,
so we missed our flight.
Global travel
was shutting down
due to the coronavirus.
And all other flights
out of Manila were booked
for the next week.
Except for one
that left in an hour.
This has become
like reality now.
This isn't just a game
that I play online
and then go back to my family.
Game over.
This was our last shot,
so we bought two tickets
and hoped for the best.
Hi, honey! Sorry.
Not yet.
Where is he?
Yes! Oh, I see him!
Thank you!
Somehow, in less
than 45 minutes,
a guy appeared
on a motorcycle,
I-Card in hand.
Looks right to me.
Honey, are you there?
Can you bring
the car to us?
We need to go to
Terminal 3 really fast.
But the indictment could
drop at any second.
Okay. They're on
the way they said.
And our new flight was
leaving from a terminal
on the other side
of the airport.
Whoa!
No, they're not.
But, this is great cinema.
Yeah. Dun dun dun dun
dun dun dun dun dun!
- We have to go!
- We need to move!
Sorry, I love you! I gotta go!
Sorry, this thing
has a max speed.
I wish we could just run, but
Sorry we're late!
I'm not used to this
level of activity.
Okay.
Yeah, we're on a flight
to Hong Kong.
From Hong Kong,
we're gonna go to LA.
We made it.
We got-- we got through.
During our layover
in Hong Kong,
Fred learned that
the indictment had dropped
just moments after
the plane left Manila.
He had narrowly escaped.
So you think Q is
gonna write about you?
I do.
If he figures out
you've come to LA?
Maybe it's just narcissism,
but I think that
my narrative got really
wrapped up in Q's,
and that they would see this
as a big victory.
I think Q is Ronald also.
I think that he cannot help
himself but to gloat about this.
February 18th. "To be blunt,
game over."
It's not.
We're just playing
a new game now.
This is a new game.
I still think
that Q is just as dangerous,
if not more so,
during this pandemic.
One of the main reasons that Jim
likes 8chan is not financial.
It's power.
Q, to him, was like a prize pig.
People conspiracy-theorize
about things that
they think are powerful.
If the stuff doesn't come true,
someone else is gonna
try and make it come true.
It's starting to affect levels
of government,
and it's getting
really terrifying.
If this sh*t
is not somehow curtailed,
this is gonna be very violent.
It's gonna get, uh, crazy.
There's millions of people
who are involved in this now.
You now have
the ear of The President.
Hi, I'm gonna make a claim.
It's gonna
shatter some institutions.
I think he's gonna
get people k*lled.
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01x05 - Game Over
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When documentary filmmaker Cullen Hoback sets out to uncover the forces behind QAnon, his attention turns to 8chan, the site where "Q" posts.
When documentary filmmaker Cullen Hoback sets out to uncover the forces behind QAnon, his attention turns to 8chan, the site where "Q" posts.