Cults prey on lonely and desperate people looking to belong to something. As people migrate a bigger portion of their lives online, sometimes all it takes is a small showing of support to net someone’s full trust.

tumple and Daylife army were founded by Eben’wiz-el’ and KOA Malone. The groups were founded primarily through Facebook, reaching people who hung out on a section of the social media site dubbed’weird Facebook’.

onezero spoke to 24 people who identified as members of tumple and Daylife army. onezero tells a poignant story of Internet addiction, loneliness online, and how the what happens on the Internet can have dire consequences in the real world.

tumple is a millennial-focused religious movement rooted in themes of anti-racism and economic justice. In reality, tumple was more of a social media pyramid scheme.

Members of the Daylife army lived out of motel 6 rooms, stopped drinking alcohol, and did what they thought was best for the cause. They moved across the country to be alongside Carlson and Malone’s crew.

The Daylife army’s belief system offered a clear-cut formula for understanding the world. You’re either part of the pain matrix and contribute to the problem, or you can drop out and help KOA build the pleasure matrix.