Britain’s teenage neo-Nazis show the danger of online radicalisation

Analysis: Following the example set by Isis, far-right groups are radicalising children online, Lizzie Dearden writes

Head of counterterrorism Neil Basu called far-right extremism an ‘increasing’ threat (PA)

Picture the British far right and the image most likely conjured up will be of middle-aged men at a protest, perhaps a group like the English Defence League or British National Party.

But as counterterror police have now warned, the face of right-wing extremism in the UK is changing to become younger and more “digital savvy”.

Officers have revealed that they have investigated children as young as 14 for involvement in neo-Nazi movements, whose leaders are deliberately preying on vulnerable minds susceptible to their poisonous rhetoric.

“We’re increasingly seeing people on the periphery of these groups or at risk from them who have other vulnerabilities and complex needs, whether that be age, mental health or something else,” said a detective who has investigated the banned National Action group.

“They are young individuals, boys and girls, often with mental health needs, who are isolated and disenfranchised with society.”

Following the global emergence of “bedroom radicalisation” by Isis, far-right groups are now reaching young people with no real-world connection to the ideology they espouse.

National Action itself was started by students and targeted university campuses with propaganda campaigns, before being banned by the government as a terrorist organisation.

Two former supporters who were jailed earlier this year for inciting terror attacks as part of a neo-Nazi splinter group were themselves only aged 18 and 19.

Generation Identity, a pan-European white nationalist group that inspired the Christchurch shooter, presents itself as a youth movement and aims its slick online recruitment efforts at those in their late teens and twenties.

While traditional far-right street protests still happen regularly, particularly around Brexit, police said the most extreme rhetoric was being increasingly voiced online in forums and secure chat groups.

Assistant Commissioner Neil Basu, the head of UK counterterror policing, said groups across the spectrum of cultural nationalism, white supremacism and Nazism where now “very 21st century, digital savvy people”.

Citing the rise of memes in extremist propaganda, he said material was being designed to attract a younger generation of followers.

“That’s a concern, they are very adept at propaganda,” Basu said. “They have developed a lot of that by looking at how successful Isis were.”

Many of the platforms used for far-right propaganda have a young user base, and may not appear concerning to a parent at first glance.

The “chan” imageboards, where the Christchurch, El Paso and Poway attackers posted their manifestos, are infamous for using memes and in-jokes to cast doubt on whether the racism and violence espoused is sincere.

Meanwhile, ramped up crackdowns on hate speech by Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have pushed many extremists onto niche platforms like Gab and Telegram, which are less likely to be viewed by people outside the scene.

On the inside, international links are growing and police have identified contact between British extremists and those in Canada, the US, Australia, Scandinavia, eastern Europe, Germany, South America and elsewhere.

Basu said that the biggest terror threat came from “lone actors” of any age, who can be radicalised online in a matter of weeks.

“It’s impossible to arrest our way out of the problem,” he admitted. “We can’t succeed without the support of the public.”

He called for more people to report relatives and loved ones to the Prevent counter-extremism scheme if they fear they are being drawn into extremism.

“It can’t be right that we are arresting 16-year-old Nazis in this country, so I would like it if we intervened much earlier and law enforcement and security services didn’t have to be involved.”