How the wellness and influencer crowd served conspiracies to the masses

A distrust of traditional institutions saw wellness advocates find common ground with QAnon during the pandemic - and soften their message for the mainstream

How governments were left playing catch-up on misinformation

In August last year, Matt Lawson, a Melbourne-based conspiracy theorist and anti-5G activist linked to the group that helped organise the city's anti-lockdown protests last year, held one of his regular YouTube gabfests.

The guests were mostly the usual crowd. The former celebrity chef Pete Evans was there, wondering aloud why the only politician talking about the immune system during Covid-19 was the US president Donald Trump: He's talked about zinc, he's talked about sunlight, and he's been ridiculed for it."