Partner's son has gotten into QAnon. What to do?

Post date: 2020-03-29 21:12:38

My partner is sheltering in place in another town with her 19-year-old son. Today she texted me that he's been watching the QAnon video series "The Fall of the Cabal" and believes what it says, including that the CIA runs the news media and both CNN and Snopes are fake.

She wants me to convince him that it's not real, but I am concerned that someone who believes in QAnon cannot be argued out of it with facts, and that showing him the many available articles and videos debunking QAnon could cause him to dig in more firmly.

Are there any resources or scripts for keeping a young family member from falling down a conspiracy rabbit hole?

Similar questions on AskMe tend to be about friends or partners and the consensus answer tends to be "agree to disagree." He is an adult at 19 but my partner wants to ensure his world view is not permanently distorted at such a tender age. (This question comes close and has some good advice.)

The son has had therapy for depression and has been lonely recently due to some circumstances in his life, though his mother says he's been actually happy and holding up well during the lockdown. He still lives with her and is not yet self-sufficient.

I don't know how he found his way to QAnon—I wanted to ask this question before I get into the topic with him. I know that the alt-right recruits depressed, lonely people online, but I have reasons to believe he would never become virulently racist or white supremacist. I've found some sites about what to do if your child is being radicalized, but I don't believe he would ever turn to violence or terrorism. (Or should I be worried?)

I'm half-sure he'll just grow out of it in time, but I don't want to ignore it if there's any way to help.

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