A new study suggests that two-thirds of ISIS-linked people arrested in Europe in the past nine months were teenagers, and after the failed plot to attack Taylor Swift's Vienna concert, experts warn that extremists are targeting children on social media.
A new study from King's College reported by CNN found that of the 58 people arrested in Europe in connection to ISIS in the past nine months, 38 were aged between 13 and 19.
If we add the three Austrian suspects (aged 17, 18 and 19) who plotted to crash a car packed with explosives into Swift's Vienna concert, this brings the total number of European teenagers recruited by jihadist terrorist organisations in just a few months to at least 41.
Swift bombing plot mastermind, 19-year-old, pledges allegiance to ISIS APA/AFP via Getty Images
These vulnerable teenagers are often contacted online by ISIS recruiters who seek to radicalize them and encourage them to commit acts of mass violence under a bloody banner, said study author Peter Neumann, who also noted a four-fold increase in attacks and planned attacks in Europe since 2022.
But ISIS is not just targeting young people in Europe: citizens of Western countries, including the US, have also been targeted on social media.
“No one doubts that in the Western world — not just Europe, but the United States, Canada, Australia and beyond — it's the preferred tool and mechanism for recruitment,” Dr. Cori Zoli, research director at Syracuse University's Institute for Security Policy and Law, told the Post.
Zohri explained that using platforms like TikTok, Telegram, X and Facebook, ISIS recruiters connect with young people, often men, who are susceptible to extremism, and exploit their insecurities and curiosity.
Swift's three concerts in Vienna were expected to draw about 200,000 people from August 8 to 10. Getty Images, courtesy of TAS Rights Management
“Everybody wants to hire young people, especially young men, because there are developmental issues,” she said.
“Young people's brains aren't fully formed until about age 25. They make volatile decisions. And young people in general tend to have a black-and-white view of the world.”
While platforms like TikTok and Facebook generally monitor any content that directly references terrorist organizations like ISIS, videos or groups about seemingly innocuous subjects like Sharia law and other cultural matters could be enough of a clue for recruiters to identify targets.
Flames rise from the Crocus City music hall in Moscow during an attack claimed by ISIS on March 22, 2024. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov Turkish police stand guard outside the Santa Maria Italia Catholic Church in Istanbul after a terror attack on January 28, 2024. REUTERS/Dilara Senkaya
“People also use war and conflict as a great recruiting tool. The current war in Gaza is definitely working in the interest of recruiters,” Zohri said. “It's these affinity groups, these social media groups and pages where people are expressing their political anger about conflict or war or something that's in the news.”
“These are entry points for young people in particular who are really upset about what's going on in certain conflict situations. They get drawn into activist and political communities and end up having some pretty deep ties to actual extremist organizations.”
The problem is so prevalent in the US that Reps. August Prufüger (R-Texas) and Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.) introduced bipartisan legislation last week that would require the Department of Homeland Security to conduct an annual study on the risk of terrorist recruiting on platforms like TikTok.
Swift was scheduled to perform at Vienna's Ernst Happel Stadium. MAX SLOVENCIK/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Crowds gather outside the Ernst Happel Stadium, where a teenage suspect planned to blow up a car loaded with explosives. APA/AFP via Getty Images
Austrian law enforcement officials say the teenagers suspected in the Taylor Swift bombing plot were recruited online by ISIS and planned to kill “as many people as possible” by driving a car packed with explosives into the crowd at the concert, where they had recently been hired as security guards.
The pair were arrested on Wednesday, just days before Swift's first of three concerts in Vienna, which was expected to draw 195,000 people, was cancelled.
Chemicals and other technical equipment for making bombs were found at the home of the 19-year-old mastermind.
His lawyer later tried to downplay the threat, saying the boy was simply “playing with his ideas.”
A spokesman for Meta, which owns Facebook, told The Washington Post that the company has a team of hundreds of experts monitoring the platform for terrorism-related content, adding that terrorism and hate groups are fully barred from the platform and that such content is removed as soon as it is detected.
Neither TikTok nor Twitter responded to requests for comment.
