Utah musician accused of being QAnon insider sues Michigan State professor for defamation

DETROIT — A Utah musician accused by a Michigan State University professor of being an insider in the QAnon conspiracy theory and political movement has sued the professor and other MSU faculty and officials, alleging the professor has continually defamed him with her allegations.

Thomas Schoenberger also claims he received death threats and online harassment after MSU Communicative Sciencesprofessor Laura Dilley made comments on social media suggesting he may be to blame for the 2023 shooting at Michigan State University.

Schoenberger's lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court, filed Aug. 7, alleges Dilley has been harassing him on social media, repeatedly defaming him online and in research papers, saying he is behind QAnon, a far-right conspiracy theory that originated in 2017. Its adherents allege Satan-worshipping pedophiles control the Democratic party, the media and Hollywood, and that President Donald Trump is leading the fight against them.

Schoenberger does not ask for any particular damages in the lawsuit. A status conference is scheduled for Nov. 6.

This lawsuit stems from a paper Dilley wrote titled “QAnon Propaganda on Twitter as Information Warfare: Influencers, Networks and Narratives." Schoenberger's lawsuit alleges Dilley's paper contained “false and outlandish allegations of and concerning Thomas Schoenberger, such as that he was the mastermind behind QAnon, that the Cicada 3301 alternate reality game (puzzle) is a direct link with QAnon, and that Thomas belongs to the IAM Cult.”

The theory that Schoenberger is involved with QAnon stems from his organization, Cicada 3301, and the complicated puzzles it has published, according to Barry Powers, Schoenberger's attorney. People began theorizing that it was a way to identify and recruit highly intelligent people into the CIA, Powers said.

A 2014 Washington Post story called the Cicada 3301 puzzles one of the Internet's "eeriest, unsolved mysteries."

Schoenberger created the Cicada 3301 puzzles, but denies any link to QAnon, Powers said. Powers called Dilley's paper "yellow journalism" and "sensationalism."

"If you boil down 100 pages into two words, it's 'yellow journalism.' It's ideology masquerading as scholarship," Powers said. "On a basic level, my client is being attacked to this very day by officers and professors at the university, and that’s not tolerable."

MSU spokesperson Emily Guerrant declined to comment on the lawsuit, citing the pending litigation. Dilley called Schoenberger's lawsuit "very weak" and said her defense is strong.

"The purpose of the paper was to give an entry point to further study on networks that might be involved in spreading QAnon, and Thomas Schoenberger's account was selected as one to query for further study," Dilley said. "My opinion is the lawsuit is frivolous, that it is vexatious litigation, that it should not have been brought in the first place."

Schoenberger, of Utah, is a 64-year-old composer and musician. He created Cicada 3301 to bring together creative individuals and inspire people interested in history, music and culture, according to the lawsuit. It is not a political group, the suit says.

Both Dilley and Schoenberger have accused the other of harassing them, but only Schoenberger has taken legal action on it.

Dilley's paper on QAnon propaganda

Dilley's paper, published in 2021, described what she called evidence of large-scale coordination among accounts promoting "QAnon propaganda," which may have led to Russia and corporate entities' use of social media to undermine the U.S.'s democratic process. Her paper looks at five studies of QAnon's spread through social media.

In her paper, she sampled thousands of accounts on Twitter for data — including Schoenberger's, she said.

The first mention of Schoenberger in the paper is in a paragraph about connections between QAnon and "so-called 'alternative reality games'" and live action role play. She said people who promoted Cicada 3301 were involved in the early promotion of QAnon narratives. According to the paper, Schoenberger and an associate "promoted the puzzle, organized groups of puzzle solvers and content creators, and groomed and enlisted some participants to post as Q."

Dilley wrote that Schoenberger was a person "identified to be central to the history of QAnon" and that he is a "QAnon insider."

"Given Schoenberger’s prominence in putative recruitment of 'trolls' for, or through, the Cicada 3301 puzzle, further connections with QAnon were indicated, among other things, by the fact that QAnon influencer and recruiter @MrDeeds1111—one of the most influential Twitter accounts in our sample in Study 1—bore the Cicada 3301 puzzle insignia in its profile," Dilley wrote in the study.

Dilley said she chose the topic because she wanted to do something within her skill set that was relevant to what was going on in the world in 2020. She was paying a lot of attention to social media at the time and was drawn to the question of why there was so much propaganda.

She came across Schoenberger's name from several YouTubers and media reports that mentioned him in connection to QAnon, alleging he was involved in spreading the conspiracy theories, she said.

"I think this case is significant for academic freedom, and I hope that not just my university but others will renew their commitment to standing up for faculty’s freedom of speech," Dilley said.

MSU shooting

Powers said the biggest impact on Schoenberger has come from Dilley's tweets the night of the mass shooting at MSU alleging Schoenberger may have had something to do with the attack. Three students — Arielle Anderson, Alexandria Verner and Brian Fraser — were killed and five others were injured in the Feb. 13, 2023, shooting.

Schoenberger, in his lawsuit, said Dilley posted on X "asserting that he was the force behind the shooter" and that the "gunman was acting under the control of Thomas."

Dilley denied making that post, and it does not currently appear on her X feed.

As the shooting was going on, Dilley posted: "I was targeted through stochastic terrorism tactics for my research on QAnon disinformation on Twitter. Police report was filed. Remains to be seen." This post quoted an earlier post she made in November 2022 about Schoenberger harassing her.

In later replies to her initial post, she said if there is any connection between her research and the shooting, it should be investigated.

"I literally had folks from across the country and around the world contact me to ask if these things were connected," she wrote on X. "It’s not for me to decide or dismiss, it’s for law enforcement. There is ample evidence that goes well beyond me. That is all."

From Feb. 13, 2023, to Feb. 15, 2023, Dilley mentioned Schoenberger once, according to a News review of her posts. In that instance, she was responding to a post that is not visible to the public, saying the Cicada 3301 puzzle was "weaponized to incentivize people to stalk & harass me. This was initiated by and/or with Thomas Schoenberger, who is the Dilleys_Willy account. I went to the police/FBI. This is only one of many stalking incidents by this group on me & others. So."

She tweeted about Cicada 3301 and QAnon about half a dozen times in that time period, according to a News review.

Dilley said Schoenberger misrepresented her tweet, and like many other areas of the lawsuit, it is misinformation.

Police said 43-year-old Anthony McRae was the shooter. McRae opened fire at three locations at the university, killing three and wounding five others, before taking his own life when he was confronted by police.

Michigan State University Police said in April 2023 they found "no conclusive motive" for McRae's actions.

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