Q. ARE ABUSED, MANGLED CHILDREN TRAPPED IN AN UNDERGROUND TUNNEL NETWORK BENEATH MELBOURNE, BEING SECRETLY FREED BY THE AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE UNDER THE GUISE OF EXTENDED CORONAVIRUS LOCKDOWNS?

A. Good news! No. Read on

This is a local adaptation of a American conspiracy narrative, fodder for a new Australian audience eager to participate in the QAnon fantasy universe.

The story goes that trapped and severely deformed children, enslaved by an elite Satanic cabal for horrific abuse and...

...adrenochrome-harvesting, have been trapped for years in an underground tunnel network beneath Central Park, New York. Coronavirus lockdowns are only a distraction. The secret truth is that army and intelligence services, under the guidance of Donald Trump the liberator, are...

using the lockdowns to free these children from the tunnels without public interference. Photos of COVID-19 testing tents set up in the park were misrepresented by popular QAnon accounts as care facilities for these poor, rescued kids.

The QAnon fantasy universe has exploded...

...in popularity and engagement with QAnon trends has shot up globally during the pandemic. QAnon is a lucrative narrative for successful creators pushing it, but because it's fundamentally US-based, overseas QAnon accounts hoping to attract an audience must adapt tales locally.

For some in Australia that's been as simple as relocating the underground tunnel network from NY to Melbourne, or claiming that the cabal HQ is in Canberra. Easy work.

Conspiracy narratives about mangled underground kids have persisted for years, making the trope easy to invoke.

You might remember Bat Boy - Weekly World News' most popular story from back in 1992. Like most QAnon narratives, this story's power lies in its appeal to our natural desire to protect children. Budding QAnon dupes fly under the radar by sharing innocuous 'save the children'...

content lately, which seems fine. And it would be, if the children (and abusers) they have in mind weren't made-up ones who star in a persistent US fairytale meant to build fringe support for Trump.

Your friend is not an activist for wanting to save made-up tunnel children from the abuse of made-up Satanist elites. They are a conspiracy theorist. There's quite enough actual child abuse victims in the world without anyone needing to invent more, thanks.