The vast majority of ISIS-related arrests in Europe have involved teens. A new study indicates that two-thirds of those arrests over the past nine months were teenagers, The New York Post reports. The thwarted suicide bomb attack on a Vienna Taylor Swift concert is evidence that terrorists are focusing on children.
There have been 58 arrests relating to ISIS activity in Europe this year: 38 involved teenagers, according to a new King’s College study covered by CNN. The 38 has risen to 41 after three teenagers influenced by ISIS were apprehended before a plot to drive an explosive laden vehicle into one or more of Swift’s shows could be implemented.
ISIS contacts teens, grooms them into radical politics and dares them to prove their loyalty by committing acts of terrorism, according to King’s College professor Peter Neumann — who says teen terrorism has risen sharply since 2022.
The US has been affected too. “There’s no doubt in anybody’s mind that’s the preferred means and mechanisms for recruitment in the west, meaning Europe, but also in the US, Canada, Australia and elsewhere,” director of research at Syracuse University’s Institute for Security Policy and Law, Dr. Corri Zoli, told The Post.
Recruiters reportedly use a range of social media to target teens but focus on youth-orientated TikTok and Telegram, while also using the more traditional X, and Facebook. ISIS usually finds its message resonates better with males than females but the message is always the same: joining ISIS will make them important, Zoli told The Post.
“Everybody loves to recruit young people, especially young men, because there’s developmental issues,” she said.
Talking about planning a terrorist bomb attack would certainly be flagged and removed on TikTok or Facebook, so the recruiters reportedly try a softer approach, talking about Islamic culture or how the war in Gaza is affecting the lives of Palestinians.
Even US lawmakers have become aware of the issue. This month, Congressmen August Plfuger (R-TX) and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) introduced a bi-partisan bill calling on the Department of Homeland Security to assess social media for potential terrorist recruitment.
The teens accused of plotting to take out a Taylor Swift concert were believed by Austrian law enforcement to be heavily under the influence of ISIS as a result of online propaganda and wanted to kill “as many people as possible” with their car bomb. The concerts were canceled.
Austrian police arrested the trio on Wednesday and alleged that they found chemicals and materials to make bombs in the house of the 19-year-old gang leader.
Adults are still being recruited for terrorism, as the recent arrest of a radical Islamic preacher demonstrates.
