Wieambilla police shooting: Inside wild online conspiracy theories that drove Train family killers
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The shooting deaths of six people during an ambush in Queensland should be a wake-up call to Australians about the real-world dangers posed by online conspiracy theories, analysts say.
Online postings in the name of Gareth Train, one of three shooters who killed two police officers and a bystander, have come under police scrutiny since Monday’s siege in Wieambilla in rural Queensland.
The other shooters were his brother Nathaniel and Stacey Train, who was married to Nathaniel but left him from Gareth.
Gareth Train’s online comments included conspiracy material about Jesuits and vaccines, as well as claims that high-profile shootings, such as the Port Arthur massacre, were hoaxes or “false flag” operations.
Conspiracy theories have been around for centuries and tend to increase during periods of intense social change or uncertainty, such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
Nathaniel Train (left) is pictured on the day he married Stacey Train (right), who later left him for his brother Gareth.
Online postings in the name of Gareth Train (pictured), one of three shooters who killed two police officers and a bystander, have come under police scrutiny.
However, there is growing concern that the current spike may never subside.
Katharine Gelber, from the University of Queensland, says one reason is the attention-based business model of social media.
Algorithms have to present users with more and more extreme material to keep them connected.
Bots are also spreading conspiracies more widely and quickly, he said.
“The new conspiracism is based on people saying, ‘well, I heard it or saw it on Facebook’ or ‘people have said,'” Professor Gelber told the AAP.
Elise Thomas, a senior online data analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, said unregulated apps like Telegram allow multiple theories to mingle with broad conspiracy views of the world.
“You see a lot of cross-spreading between different kinds of conspiracy narratives, from different countries, in different contexts, all kinds of stewed together in this kind of very confusing suspicion soup,” he said.
Four officers were at this Wains Road property in Wieambilla when they were shot
The property, owned by Gareth, who talked about preparing his home for an apocalypse, and his wife Stacey was well off the grid, had extensive solar panels and water tanks.
In addition to the risk of physical violence, Thomas said, conspiracy theories are a growing mental health and social problem.
“For the vast majority of people who really get sucked into this, the people they hurt the most are themselves,” he said.
“It does incredible damage to people’s mental health and their personal lives, their relationships, they separate from their family and their friends.”
Professor Gelber said it is crucial that governments, societies and individuals do not simply expect the problem to go away.
“It’s pretty clear that otherwise ordinary people are being drawn into the orbit of conspiracy theories in ways that are very dangerous, and we’ve just seen the latest manifestation of that in Queensland,” he said.
Nathaniel Train (pictured)
Daniel Angus, a computational social scientist at Queensland University of Technology, said tech companies are failing to crack down on misinformation.
“Despite all the outside rhetoric, it seems that the platforms right now are not interested in making these things go away,” he said.
But regulating conspiracy material is difficult, said Griffith University expert Harley Williamson, since authorities will arbitrate the facts.
He said that determining when to intervene with users who are at risk of acting in the physical world is even more difficult.
On an individual level, analysts say, the best thing people can do is try to understand why their friends, family and community members have gone down the rabbit hole of a conspiracy.
Some people feel completely excluded from the democratic decision-making process and feel disappointed if the media does not take up their complaints.
Others alleviate their social exclusion or isolation from the mainstream by being accepted and validated by fringe groups.
Making people feel open and comfortable about talking about their views is important, Dr. Williamson said, even if you don’t agree with them.
“I still think having some kind of open dialogue is really important,” he said.
Professor Angus said people should also ask questions of friends and family to find out what social void a conspiracy group is filling.
Online comments under the name Gareth Train featured conspiracy material about the Jesuit order of Catholic priests. In the photo, the Gesu Jesuit Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
“Everyone probably has a family member or significant other who may have gone down this path, so those conversations will be important,” he said.
All analysts agreed that it is vital to keep in touch with the people involved in conspiracy rings and not let them become isolated and withdrawn.
Ben Rich of Curtin University said that after two years of arguing about the pandemic, it’s tempting to walk away from people you disagree with, but it’s vital to stay connected.
“It doesn’t end up being a grievance or another abandonment for these people, because many times they are going to look for it elsewhere, they are going to find spaces that compensate it, and many times there is a real cost that comes along with that,” he said.