Educational tool only. All groups exist on a spectrum of control. Individual experiences vary. Based on publicly available reports, ex-member accounts, court records, and expert analyses — not medical or legal advice.
69 group profiles for organisations whose documented founding falls in the 2010s. Sorted by CLCI score, descending.
Salafist-jihadist ideology and recruitment network of the so-called 'Islamic State'. Documented patterns of extreme indoctrination, sexual slavery, mass execution, and total information control. Listed as a terrorist organisation by virtually all governments.
Lawrence Ray ('Larry Ray', 1959–) — convicted federal sex-trafficker who, beginning 2010, lived among his daughter's college roommates at Sarah Lawrence College and over a decade subjected several to coercive psychiatric 'confessions', forced labour, sex trafficking, and extortion. Convicted April 2022 on 15 federal counts; sentenced January 2023 to 60 years; $20M restitution. The S2 'Stolen Youth' Hulu docuseries (2023) is the canonical record.
Small Mahdi-claimant Islamic-derived new religious movement founded ~2015 by Egyptian-American Abdullah Hashem Aba Al-Sadiq (b. 1983). Hashem teaches he is the awaited Mahdi (Islamic eschatological end-times figure), Christ returned, and 'Riser of the House of Muhammad'. Distinct from — and rejected by — the mainstream Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Multi-jurisdiction asylum-claim trail (Egypt → Turkey → UK → Switzerland → US Texas) and documented coercive-control patterns including group-marriage rituals, communal child-rearing, surrendered passports, and shunning of departing members.
Neo-Nazi accelerationist terror organisation founded 2015. Multiple US members convicted of murder; UK proscribed as terrorist organisation 2021. Heavily entwined with Order of Nine Angles esoteric materials.
Online 'spiritual coaching' organisation run by Jeff and Shaleia Divine teaching that everyone has one 'twin flame' romantic partner. Documented patterns of pressuring members to pursue uninterested 'twins', gender-identity coercion, and total community life consumed by Divine couple's livestreams.
Kanye West (b. 1977, legally renamed Ye 2021) operates a multi-component personal brand that includes Donda Academy (a Christian K-12 school founded 2022 in Simi Valley California, subject of multiple ex-staff and ex-parent lawsuits documenting coercive-control patterns), the YZY fashion brand (Yeezy footwear and apparel), and the Sunday Service performances (a touring worship-music-and-fashion event 2019–2022 that drew millions of attendees and viewers). The 2022–2025 period included substantial public anti-Semitic statements; Donda Academy is the primary BITE-relevant component because it has documented institutional structure with student-and-staff members.
Coalition of conservative US Christian conversion-therapy ministries that re-formed in 2012 after Exodus International dissolved and apologised. Continues 'sexual-orientation change' counselling in jurisdictions where it is still legal.
Sun Myung Moon's youngest son Hyung Jin 'Sean' Moon (b. 1979) heads the Sanctuary Church / World Peace and Unification Sanctuary, a 2015+ splinter from the mainstream Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) led by Hyung Jin's mother Hak Ja Han. Distinguishing features: AR-15-rifle 'iron rod' weapons-as-sacrament doctrine, the February 28 2018 'Cosmic True Parents Coronation' ceremony with crowns of bullets at the Newfoundland Pennsylvania compound, financial intertwining with brother Justin Moon's Kahr Arms firearms-manufacturing company, and post-2018 Q-adjacent / January 6-adjacent political activity. Sarah Posner's 2018–2024 *Type Investigations* + NYT + Vice + AP coverage is the canonical journalistic record.
Decentralised online conspiracy movement originating from anonymous '8chan' posts (2017+) claiming a high-ranking US government insider ('Q') was revealing Deep State child-trafficking plot. Despite no central organisation, exhibits documented cult-like patterns of total information control, family severance, and apocalyptic timelines.
Post-Sun-Myung-Moon (d. 2012) Unification successor groups, including the Hak Ja Han-led Family Federation and the Sean / Hyung Jin Moon-led Sanctuary Church. Inherit core control patterns of the parent organisation.
Umbrella for the post-2017 ecosystem of online caliphate-restoration recruitment networks that emerged after ISIS's territorial collapse. Includes ISIS-Khorasan (ISIS-K) digital recruitment, al-Qaeda-affiliated online cells, decentralised inspirational networks (Telegram-based 'Furqan' and 'Amaq News' successors), and the 2024+ generative-AI propaganda wave. Multiple national terrorist designations across UN, US, EU, UK, AU jurisdictions.
Religious-front organisation marketing 'Miracle Mineral Solution' (chlorine dioxide bleach) as a cure for autism, cancer, COVID-19, and other diseases. Founder Mark Grenon and three sons convicted in US federal court 2022–23.
Neo-Nazi accelerationist organisation founded 2018 by Rinaldo Nazzaro. Designated terrorist organisation in UK, Canada, Australia. Multiple US members convicted of weapons and conspiracy charges.
Cross-reference entry tracking QAnon's 2024–2026 evolution after Q drops largely ceased and the movement migrated to A-list 'anon' figures and Telegram channels.
US-headquartered multi-level marketing company founded in 2013 by Christopher Terry, marketing trading-education products (foreign-exchange, cryptocurrency, sports-betting) through a recruitment-based affiliate structure. Subject of multiple national financial-regulator warnings (Belgian FSMA 2018, Australian ASIC 2019, Spanish CNMV 2018, and others), sustained Truth in Advertising (TINA.org) documentation, and sustained mainstream financial-press coverage.
Malawi-born self-styled 'Major 1' prophet Shepherd Bushiri leads ECG. Faced multiple South African fraud and money-laundering charges before fleeing to Malawi in 2020 in violation of bail conditions.
Online 'enlightenment teacher' running Trinfinity Academy and various retreats. After follower Brent Wilkins' 2017 suicide and a major Be Scofield exposé, multiple wellness-press and academic critiques have characterised the operation as a high-control online cult.
Mexican former physician who popularised the inhalation of vapor from the Sonoran Desert toad (Bufo alvarius / Incilius alvarius, 5-MeO-DMT) globally. Multiple in-ceremony participant deaths and Mexican criminal investigations.
Carl Lentz (b. 1978) pastored Hillsong Church NYC from its 2010 launch to his November 2020 firing for 'moral failures' (extramarital affairs and abuse-of-power allegations). The NYC satellite of the Australian Hillsong Church became a celebrity-magnet (Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Kevin Durant, Vanessa Hudgens were attendees) and a documented example of coercive megachurch culture targeting young creative volunteers. The 2023 FX docuseries *The Secrets of Hillsong*, *Vanity Fair*'s Alex Morris 2020+ investigation, and *Marie Claire*'s Tiffany Bender investigations are the canonical journalistic record.
Pakistani Barelvi political-religious party founded in August 2015 by Khadim Hussain Rizvi (1966–2020) following the February 2016 execution of Mumtaz Qadri, assassin of Punjab governor Salman Taseer. Built around mass street mobilisation against any perceived softening of Pakistan's blasphemy laws, with multiple violent confrontations killing dozens of police and civilians. Banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act in April 2021; ban lifted in November 2021 after backroom negotiations with the Imran Khan government. Now led by Rizvi's son Saad Hussain Rizvi.
Russell Brand (b. 1975) is a British comedian-turned-podcaster who underwent a documented parasocial-guru trajectory: 2000s comedy career → 2010s addiction-recovery thought-leadership → post-COVID conspiracy-content pivot → September 2023 Channel 4 Dispatches investigation surfacing rape, sexual assault, and emotional-abuse allegations from four named women → April 2024 evangelical baptism in River Thames + Awakening You platform launch. UK Metropolitan Police criminal investigation ongoing 2023+. The entry frames Brand as a parasocial-guru cult-of-personality with alleged sexual coercion of subordinates, not as a high-control cult-of-organisation.
Russian private military company founded by Yevgeny Prigozhin (2014). Documented mass civilian casualties. Prigozhin killed in 2023 plane crash following his June 2023 mutiny; rebranded as Africa Corps under Russian state control.
American white-nationalist hate group founded by Thomas Rousseau (2017) after splitting from Vanguard America. Distinctive uniformed flash-mob demonstrations. SPLC hate-group designation.
Bulgarian-Indian-marketed cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme founded by Ruja Ignatova (2014). Estimated $4+ billion fraud. Ignatova disappeared in 2017; FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitive list since 2022. Multiple co-conspirator convictions.
Tablighi Jamaat ('Society of Preachers') is one of the largest Sunni revivalist mass-movements globally — estimated 150 million sympathisers, hundreds of thousands of active *jamaat* members. Founded 1926 in British India by Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Kandhlawi (1885–1944). After the 2015 succession crisis following Maulana Saad Kandhlawi's claims and the rival shura-council Pakistani Raiwind faction's counter-claim, the movement split. This entry covers the Saadi / Nizamuddin (New Delhi HQ) faction, the higher-control side, distinguished from the Pakistani Raiwind faction. Mainstream Tablighi practice — voluntary 3-day, 40-day (chilla), and 4-month (chilla-e-arba'een) khuruj missions — is moderate; the post-2015 Saadi faction's documented severance patterns push specific chapters higher.
Maryland-based weight-loss MLM operating Optavia coaching network atop Medifast's meal-replacement product line (current corporate form 2017; Medifast public since 1993). ~80k 'Coaches' at 2022 peak; documented 800–1,100 calorie/day prescribed protocols; multiple eating-disorder professional-society warnings (NEDA 2023, AED 2024); class-action litigation pending 2024+.
Aubrey Marcus (b. 1981) is a wellness-influencer and the founder of Onnit Labs (a sports-supplement company sold to Unilever for ~$200M in 2021), the Aubrey Marcus Podcast, and Fit For Service (a residential-retreat-and-coaching network). The Fit For Service component has documented severance pressure, substantial financial extraction (~$10,000+ per multi-day retreat), and a programmatic combination of polyamory exploration, ayahuasca tourism, and 'masculinity work' that has produced multiple ex-participant complaints of psychological coercion. The wellness-bro-psychedelic-cult-adjacent pattern.
Decentralised online accelerationist movement (mid-2010s+) preparing for / accelerating second American civil war. Multiple violent incidents including 2020 California Federal Protective Service officer killing.
Umbrella entry for online communities around specific right-wing news influencer figures that exhibit cult-like parasocial dynamics. Substantial subscription costs and severance from family who criticise.
Successor organisations continuing Sahaja Yoga after founder Nirmala Srivastava's (Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi) 2011 death in Italy. Primary post-2011 organisation is the family-led Vishwa Nirmala Dharma trust based at Cabella Ligure, Italy. Multiple splinter groups have emerged from succession disputes. Documented continuation of Sahaja Yoga school controversies, residential ashram coercion, and Srivastava-veneration patterns. ~50,000-100,000 active globally.
Online 'incel' (involuntarily celibate) community. Documented links to multiple violent terror incidents. Distinct online radicalisation pipeline.
Umbrella entry for documented online radicalisation pipelines — red-pill (manosphere), black-pill (incel-nihilist), alt-right (white-nationalist) — that radicalise users from mainstream content into extreme communities.
Russian pseudo-legal sovereign-citizen-style movement (Grazhdane SSSR — 'Citizens of the USSR') asserting that the Soviet Union was never legally dissolved, that all post-1991 Russian institutions are illegitimate, and that adherents can refuse taxes, debts and Russian citizenship via 'declaration of Soviet citizenship'. The Russian Supreme Court designated the movement extremist in 2024.
Umbrella entry for online communities that blend multi-level-marketing recruitment structure with spiritual / wellness / personal-development content. Modern variant of LGAT (large group awareness training) and wellness-MLM lineages. Notable cases include Bob Proctor / Proctor Gallagher Institute, Tony Robbins / Robbins Research International, Mindvalley high-control circles (separately documented), Abraham-Hicks coaching tiers, and dozens of smaller 'manifesting / abundance / spiritual-business' coach figures.
Florida-based ayahuasca church (founded 2015) at the centre of Soul Quest Church of Mother Earth Inc. v. DEA — the leading post-2018 federal-court test of religious-exemption claims for ayahuasca. 2018 in-ceremony death of Lindsey Poulson.
Umbrella entry for the diverse online 'ascension' / 5D / starseed parasocial communities. Combines New Age cosmic-channelling content (Pleiadian, Arcturian, Sirian, Andromedan 'galactic-federation' communication), apocalyptic eschatology ('the shift', 'the event'), and parasocial-influencer subscription economics. Substantial overlap with Love Has Won-derived splinters (Amy Carlson's death cult) and the broader conspirituality ecosystem.
American 'Western chauvinist' far-right group founded by Gavin McInnes (2016). SPLC hate-group designation 2018. Multiple senior leaders convicted for January 6 2021 Capitol attack including seditious conspiracy.
Umbrella for the long tail of online manosphere figures whose paid communities exhibit cult-like patterns — Sneako, the Fresh & Fit hosts (Myron Gaines, Walter Weekes), Pearl Davis, Justin Waller, and a rotating set of smaller imitator-coaches. The largest and most-documented operation in the genre — Andrew Tate's Hustlers University / The Real World — is profiled separately at /groups/andrew-tate-hustlers-university-real-world; this umbrella covers the figures who emerged in that wake.
Bodu Bala Sena ('Buddhist Power Force', BBS) is a Sri Lankan Buddhist-nationalist political-religious movement founded May 2012 in Colombo by Buddhist monks Galagoda Aththe Gnanasara Thera and Kirama Wimalajothi Thera. Distinct from mainstream Sri Lankan Theravada Buddhism (the Mahanikaya, Amarapura, and Ramanna nikayas), which is generally low-control. Substantial documented role in the June 2014 Aluthgama anti-Muslim riots (~3 killed, 80 injured), the post-2018 Sinhalese-Buddhist mobilisation that contributed to the political climate around the April 2019 Easter Sunday bombings (~270 killed by ISIS-linked National Thowheeth Jama'ath), and ongoing 2020–2024 anti-Muslim and anti-Christian political organising. Mahanayaka Theras of the three main Sri Lankan nikayas have publicly criticised BBS's deviation from mainstream Theravada teaching.
Umbrella entry for parallel left-wing online influencer-led parasocial cult communities. Documented substantial subscription costs (paid Patreon and Substack tiers), severance from disagreeing family, total worldview replacement around the influencer's framework. Cases include Caleb Maupin / Center for Political Innovation, various post-Bernie 2020 stan formations, Jimmy Dore's transitional trajectory, and multiple smaller Patreon-and-Substack-monetised personality-led communities.
Umbrella entry for the long tail of online trading-influencer parasocial communities (crypto / forex / day-trading 'mentors', signal services, mastermind networks). The most-prominent adjacent figure — Andrew Tate's Hustlers University / The Real World — has its own dedicated profile at /groups/andrew-tate-hustlers-university-real-world.
2017 cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that collapsed January 2018. Founder Satish Kumbhani indicted 2022. The promotional culture (Carlos Matos 'BitConneeect!' speech, parasocial community) is a textbook 2010s crypto-cult case.
Umbrella entry for high-control Western 5-MeO-DMT facilitator circles (the powerful psychedelic from Bufo alvarius toad secretions). Multiple documented sexual misconduct and severance patterns.
Specific online sub-communities around Elon Musk exhibit parasocial cult-like dynamics — total defence of Musk against criticism, substantial financial commitment to Tesla / SpaceX adjacent investments, severance from family who criticise. Most Musk fans are not in such communities.
Umbrella entry for the diverse 2020s online 'wealth coach' figures whose paid mastermind communities exhibit cult-like patterns. Substantial fees, parasocial loyalty, family-severance documented.
Umbrella for documented online wellness-influencer parasocial cult communities (food, fitness, anti-medical). Substantial subscription costs, parasocial loyalty, family severance documented.
Online carnivore-diet influencer communities around figures like Shawn Baker, Mikhaila Peterson, Paul Saladino. Documented anti-medical protocols and parasocial cult dynamics.
Umbrella entry for online 'traditional wife' influencer parasocial communities. Substantial overlap with Christian patriarchy / quiverfull movements documented.
Umbrella entry for online polyamory / relationship-coaching parasocial communities. Distinct from the broader polyamory community.
Umbrella entry for online 'trauma-healing' influencer parasocial communities. Distinct from mainstream trauma-informed clinical therapy. Specific figures (Gabor Maté-derived, Bessel van der Kolk-derived without clinical credential) build parasocial communities.
Umbrella for celebrity-led wellness parasocial communities (Goop adjacent, various celebrity-endorsed wellness brands).
Umbrella for online dating / attraction coach parasocial communities. Includes PUA-adjacent and women-focused dating-coach niches.
Umbrella entry for documented online body-positivity / HAES influencer parasocial communities. Distinct from the academic / clinical Health at Every Size movement.
Clothing MLM founded by DeAnne and Mark Stidham (2012). Subject of Amazon Prime's 'LuLaRich' (2021) documenting recruitment at scale, ruined women's finances, defective merchandise, and patriarchal Mormon-tinged company culture.
Umbrella for the documented genre of online tarot / witch / divination influencer parasocial communities. Substantial subscription costs documented.
Umbrella entry for the Instagram-native spirituality influencer parasocial communities. Aesthetic-driven spiritual content monetised via subscription tiers and paid courses.
Umbrella for online mediumship / spirit-channeling parasocial communities. Distinct from mainstream Spiritualist denominations.
Umbrella entry for online energy-healing (Reiki, biofield) influencer parasocial communities. Most mainstream Reiki / energy work is low-control; specific online influencer figures more controlling.
Umbrella entry for online fitness influencer parasocial communities. Most mainstream fitness influencers are low-control; specific high-pressure subscription programmes have parasocial dynamics.
Umbrella entry for online intuitive-eating / anti-diet influencer parasocial communities. Distinct from clinical intuitive-eating practice (Tribole, Resch).
Umbrella entry for online self-improvement podcast parasocial communities. Most mainstream (Tim Ferriss, Lewis Howes, Mel Robbins, etc.) are low-control; specific sub-currents exhibit moderate parasocial dynamics.
Florida-based haircare multi-level-marketing company founded 2014 by Luis and Rayner Urdaneta. ~200,000+ 'Market Partners' at peak. Multiple class-action lawsuits, hundreds of FDA MedWatch complaints alleging hair loss and scalp injury, and the standard MLM income-disparity pattern in which the great majority of distributors lose money.
Nail-polish-strip MLM founded 2017 in Clifton, New Jersey by Fa Park. Operated under 70,000+ 'Stylist' distributors at peak. Ceased operations 16 May 2024 after parent company declared insolvency, leaving distributors with unsold inventory and unpaid commissions.
Longtermist philosophical movement (2010s+, William MacAskill, Nick Bostrom, Toby Ord). Mainstream academic ethics with substantial documented critique especially post-FTX.
Umbrella for online astrology influencer parasocial communities. Mainstream astrology is non-coercive; specific influencer-led communities exhibit moderate parasocial dynamics.
Mainstream online support communities for people leaving high-control evangelical contexts (Exvangelical podcast, The Bible for Normal People, etc.).
Distinct Punjabi Dalit Ravidassia tradition centred on Guru Ravidas's teachings. 2010 declaration of Ravidassia Dharm as separate religion from Sikhism.
Secular non-theistic religious organisation founded by Lucien Greaves and Malcolm Jarry (2013). Distinctive use of 'Satanic' iconography to assert religious-pluralism legal cases. Distinct from LaVeyan Church of Satan.
Ukrainian autocephalous Orthodox Church recognised by Constantinople in 2018. Distinct from Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (which is declining since 2022 invasion).