Intelligence Notification: Violent online communities threaten children

Europol today issues an Intelligence Notification calling attention on the rise of violent online communities dedicated to the serious harm of children. This strategic document focuses on online grooming cult groups dedicated to normalising violence and corrupting minors, advocating for the collapse of modern society through acts of terror, chaos and violence, and spreading ideologies that inspire mass shootings, bombings and other acts of crime. These communities recruit offenders and victims on a global scale and function as cults formed around charismatic leaders who use manipulation and deception to lure and control their victims. The communities’ hierarchy is based on the amount of content shared, with the most prolific contributors earning higher rankings. Community members share extremely violent content, ranging from gore and animal cruelty to child sexual exploitation material and depictions of murder.

Europol’s Executive Director Catherine De Bolle said: 

"Today, digital platforms enable communications globally; violent extremist online communities also leverage this opportunity. Violent perpetrators spread harmful ideologies, often targeting our youth. These networks radicalise minds in the shadows, inciting them to bring violence into the real world. Awareness is our first line of defence. Families, educators and communities must stay vigilant and equip young people with critical thinking skills to resist online manipulation. International cooperation is also imperative – by sharing intelligence and holding perpetrators accountable, we can combat these dangerous communities and safeguard future generations from the grip of extreme violence and crime."

 

Vulnerable minors targeted through gaming platforms and self-help communities

The perpetrators leverage online gaming platforms, streaming services and social media platforms to identify and lure their victims. The members of these groups target vulnerable young people, particularly minors between 8 and 17 years old – especially who are LGBTQ+, racial minorities and those struggling with mental health issues. In some cases, perpetrators infiltrate online self-help or support communities dedicated to individuals impacted by these issues.

These violent criminal actors employ different tactics to lure and manipulate their victims into producing explicit sexual content, perpetrating self-harm, harming others and even carrying out murders. In the beginning, perpetrators often use ‘love bombing’ techniques – extreme expressions of care, kindness and understanding to gain the trust of the minors – while collecting personal information about their victims. The criminal actors use this information in the exploitation phase of the grooming, when they force the vulnerable minors into producing sexual content and committing acts of violence. The perpetrators then blackmail the victims to do even more harmful acts by threatening to share the victims’ explicit content with their families, friends or online communities.

Once caught in the net of the predators, minors become even more vulnerable – the detection of these criminal activities is crucial.

Beware of these behaviours in your children:

• Secrecy about online activities
• Withdrawal and isolation
• Emotional distress
• Interest in harmful content
• Changes in language or symbols used
• Concealing physical signs of harm

 

Do not ignore these signs in your children’s online behaviour:

• Unusual activity on platforms
• Interaction with unknown contacts
• Encrypted communications
• Exposure to disturbing content

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  The European Multidisciplinary Platform Against Criminal Threats (EMPACT) tackles the most important threats posed by organised and serious international crime affecting the EU. EMPACT strengthens intelligence, strategic and operational cooperation between national authorities, EU institutions and bodies, and international partners. EMPACT runs in four-year cycles focusing on common EU crime priorities.
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Child Sexual Exploitation

Child sexual exploitation refers to the sexual abuse of a person below the age of 18, as well as to the production of images of such abuse and the sharing of those images online.

Online child sexual exploitation is a constantly evolving phenomenon and is shaped by developments in technology. Mobile connectivity, growing internet coverage in developing countries and the development of pay-as-you-go streaming solutions, which provide a high degree of anonymity to the viewer, are furthering the trend in the commercial live-streaming of child sexual abuse.

As a form of cybercrime, child sexual exploitation is one of the EU’s priorities in the fight against serious and organised crime as part of EMPACT 2022 - 2025.

Europol has identified key threats in the area of child sexual exploitation:

Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks and anonymised access like Darknet networks (e.g. Tor). These computer environments remain the main platform to access child abuse material and the principal means for non-commercial distribution. These are invariably attractive for offenders and easy to use. The greater level of anonymity and the strong networking possibilities offered by hidden internet that exists beneath the “surface web” appear to make criminals more comfortable in offending and discussing their sexual interests.

Live-streaming of child sexual abuse. Facilitated by new technology, one trend concerns the profit-driven abuse of children overseas, live in front of a camera at the request of westerners.

To a lesser degree, there is also some evidence that forms of commercial child sexual exploitation such as on-demand live streaming of abuse is also contributing to the rise of the amount of CSEM online.

Live distant child abuse has the most obvious links with commercial distribution of CSEM. As new and/or unseen CSEM is valuable currency within the offending community, live distant abuse is therefore a way to not only acquire more CSEM, but to simultaneously generate material with a high ‘value’.

Online solicitation and sexual extortion. The growing number of children and teenagers who own smartphones has been accompanied by the production of self-generated indecent material. Such material, initially shared with innocent intent, often finds its way to “collectors”, who often proceed to exploit the victim, in particular by means of extortion.

Networking and forensic awareness of offenders. Offenders learn from the mistakes of those that have been apprehended by law enforcement.