Europol today issues an Intelligence Notification calling attention to the rise of violent online communities dedicated to serious harm to 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.
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 eight and 17 years old – especially those 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 vulnerable minors into producing sexual content and committing acts of violence.
The perpetrators then blackmail the victims into doing even more harmful acts by threatening to share the victims’ explicit content with their families, friends or online communities.
