A new documentary from HBO, Q: Into the Storm, introduces us to many of the odious characters who helped create and popularize the far-right QAnon conspiracy theory. Set against the cultural backdrop to the Trump era, it offers useful insight into the strange mixture of reactionary politics, grift, and nihilism that helped push the United States to the right. But it’s at its strongest in depicting the rise of today’s internet culture — and chronicling how memes and obscure image boards made the journey from irony-poisoned trolling to non-ironic reaction.

In his early twenties, software designer Fredrick Brennan found himself in the middle of this wave. He created the image board website 8chan, which later became home to Gamergate proponents and QAnon acolytes, in 2013. Since then, he’s become an outspoken critic of the conspiracy theory and has fought to have 8chan (which he no longer owns) taken offline.

Brennan sat down and spoke with Jacobin publisher Bhaskar Sunkara about his life trajectory, what the internet should be, and the question of free speech.