An insidious ‘far-right ecosystem’ is targeting children to try to radicalise them online, with experts warning that ever-younger school pupils are getting caught up in extremist ideologies, an investigation by the guardian
Teachers, police officers, academics and community leaders said there was evidence that long periods of unsupervised online access, exacerbated during the Covid lockdowns, was leading to children and young people across the UK meeting gangs extreme right in greater numbers than before.
Gaming forums, private chat rooms, and carefully crafted online pamphlets or “study guides” are among the platforms and tactics used to introduce young teens to racist, white supremacist, neo-Nazi, and involuntary celibate ideas (“incel”).
“We are seeing cases of very young people ending up at the extreme end of the extremist spectrum where they have planned or even carried out attacks,” warned Julia Ebner, senior fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD ).
Superintendent Vicky Washington, who recently retired as national co-ordinator of the government’s Prevent Terrorism programme, said social and physical isolation during the pandemic had created a perfect storm for far-right radicalisation. .
“There’s no one path, there’s no one type of child that’s particularly vulnerable, but I would say that online, in a number of ways, is something that we’re seeing more and more,” Washington said.
Experts are alarmed because, although the absolute number is very small, the age profile of those referred and arrested in relation to the extreme right is getting younger. There have been convictions for children as young as 13, and in one case there are concerns that a nine-year-old may be involved in extremism.
In January, a Darlington schoolboy became the youngest person in the UK to be convicted of terrorism offences. He was 13 when he was arrested as part of an investigation into right-wing terrorism and accused of possessing information useful to a terrorist, namely manuals for making explosives. Prior to this conviction, the UK’s youngest terror offender was a 16-year-old from Cornwall who downloaded terrorist manuals, also when he was 13.
According to Home Office figures, terrorism-related arrests have increased for all ideologies, with the biggest rise in the under-18 age group, rising from 21 to 29, the largest number high since records began in 2001. Children under 18 now make up 15. % of all terrorism-related arrests.
Last year, Prevent adopted record levels of children and young people on its Channel de-radicalisation program for right-wing extremism, despite a huge drop in referrals during the pandemic. Although the number of referrals fell by a third, the number of under-15s adopted in Channel, the youngest group, remained unchanged at 70.
The concerns come as counter-terrorism officials prepare for the publication of a review of the government’s counter-radicalisation strategy by Sir William Shawcross. A leaked draft of the review, revealed by the Guardian in May, claimed Prevent had become overly concerned with far-right extremism at the expense of Islamic extremism.
But Prevent teams working with schools in England say they have seen a significant increase in the number of children and young people referred to them, often by their teachers, over concerns they are being drawn to far-right extremism.
Nick Wilkinson, a former assistant chief constable who is senior leader of Prevent in Kent, said: “I can say we are very busy. We saw a huge increase in our work over the last year.”
Although the number of young people being radicalized by the far right remained low, Wilkinson warned: “I was on duty outside the Grand hotel. [in Brighton] on 12 October 1984, when the IRA bomb exploded. Terrorists only get lucky once. What we’re trying to do here is a needle in a haystack.”
Ken McCallum, director general of MI5, has warned that teenagers are being drawn into a toxic ideology of “online extremists and echo chambers”. Matt Jukes, the UK’s most senior counter-terrorism officer, said 19 out of 20 children under the age of 18 who were arrested last year for terror offenses were linked to far-right ideology.
Exit Hate, a national charity which supports families affected by far-right extremism, said it was asked to help a nine-year-old boy who was thought to have been recruited by his older brother. Parents were often unaware, or in some cases unconcerned, with many dismissing it as “only online, it’s not real,” Wilkinson said.
In one case, a 15-year-old boy from Bootle became radicalized after befriending far-right extremists on virtual hangouts connected to the online game Fortnite. He made connections with online personalities, described in court as “professional trolls”, who invited him to private online forums, leading to what the judge described as “some of the most appalling behavior from a young person I have ever seen “. He pleaded guilty to racial hatred and possession of terrorist material and was given a 12-month diversion order.
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Meanwhile, teachers, who are at the forefront of efforts to identify and report concerns about children they believe are at risk of radicalisation, worry they are missing signs as terms and symbols emerge online that changes quickly and they feel sick. -equipped to challenge students on extremist views.
A Home Office spokesman said: “We are committed to dealing with those who spread views that promote violence and hatred, and who radicalize others. Under online safety legislation, businesses technology companies will have to quickly remove and limit the spread of illegal content or face stiff fines.
“The Prevent program is a vital element of our response. By partnering with communities, frontline professionals and practitioners, we are working to ensure that people at risk of radicalization receive the right interventions.”