Encounter with Luis Santamaría - User Agreement

Facilitated by Álvaro Soto, this session continues the work of a small learning community —open and civic in nature— that is actively participating in and collaborating with the research, and which anyone can join at any point. 

The conversation with Luis Santamaría del Río focuses on the figure of the online guru, with particular emphasis on coercive online communities, the links between high-control groups and digital technologies, influencers and opinion leaders, and the trajectory of this content across social media. 

User Agreement explores the social vulnerability reflected in online dynamics and the emergence of cult-like tendencies connected to apps, social networks and online games. More specifically, the aim is to examine the relationships between money, neoliberal dogmas, wellness culture and pseudoscience — all so prevalent and amplified in online content. 

In this context, we look at forms of mimicry and luring present across all high-control groups, focusing on specific groups with ties to technology — whether through online recruitment, the constant broadcasting and sharing of their every move on the internet, or the use of computing as both a working tool and an object of devotion in their cult practices. 

We are equally drawn to the dynamics of self-radicalisation and incidental sectarianism that develop through online content, as well as the cross-cutting circumstances that run through these processes: the maintenance of online communication with the guru, and the establishment of remotely directed rituals. 

Luis Santamaría del Río holds a degree in Theology and a Master's in Religious Studies. He is a secondary school teacher and a lecturer on postgraduate programmes including the Master's in Criminal Behaviour Analysis at the University of Salamanca and the Expert Course in Psychological Abuse and Cults at the Pontifical University of Salamanca. In 2005 he was one of the founding members of the Red Iberoamericana de Estudio de las Sectas (RIES), and he directs its Library and Documentation Centre "José María Baamonde". He has written several books on the cult phenomenon and numerous research articles. His most recent works are A las afueras de la cruz. Las sectas de origen cristiano en España (2023) and La Nueva Era en el siglo XXI (2024). He delivers training on the subject across several European and Latin American countries, and advises affected families, law enforcement agencies and media outlets.