What’s most shocking about the record number of referrals being made to the government’s anti-terrorism scheme Prevent is the fact that nearly half were children.
Where the age was known, 393 referrals were under 10, the biggest proportion concerned were 11 to 15-year-olds at 36%, followed by 16 to 17 year-olds at 13% of referrals. These are predominantly young people who are being exposed to extreme content online because of a lack of regulation of big tech.
Last month, UK Counter Terrorism Policing urged parents and guardians of teenage children to be aware of the signs of radicalisation after a 22-year-old Alfie Coleman was jailed for planning a terrorist attack. The investigation into Coleman found that he began to become radicalised online aged only 14.
Coleman was arrested moments after he paid £3,500 for a firearm and ammunition at a car park in Stratford, East London on September 29 2023. What he didn’t realise was that he had actually arranged to meet undercover operatives.
Coleman was later found guilty of planning a terrorist attack and was sentenced at the Old Bailey on to 13-and-a-half years in jail, with another five years on licence.
Commander Helen Flanagan, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing London, said: “Sadly we’re seeing more and more examples of young people and children being drawn into violent extremism and terrorism this way.
“This is why I’m urging parents and carers to make sure that you are aware of what your children are doing online. While it may be difficult, it is vital that you have conversations with them, and if you are still concerned, then act early and get in touch, so that they can be steered down a different path before it is too late.”
Of course parents and guardians should try to monitor what children are looking at online, but it is not fair or realistic to expect them to be able to police what young people access. Like all other walks of life, the online world needs to be regulated by laws to ensure the young and vulnerable are protected. It is all too easy to access videos showing serious violence, murder and sex.
We have become desensitised and what would never have been shown on television when I was a child can now be accessed on mainstream news outlets online.
Police are releasing videos of young people as they die, such as the harrowing body worn footage of Henry Nowak’s last moments after he was stabbed in Southampton last year. The general public are being exposed to disturbing real life events that many police officers might never see during an entire career.
This is bound to have a long-lasting effect on all of us, but especially on our young people, and even more so on those who may already be living with mental health issues.
Keir Starmer last month unveiled a ban on social media for under 16s amid mounting concerns it is causing lasting damage to their mental health. Bereaved parents and child safety campaigners welcomed the former Prime Minister’s move as a necessity for young people, who they say are exposed to harmful content online.
But the ban fails to address issues such as harmful and distressing content being pushed to young people through personalised algorithms.
Assistant Commissioner Lawrence Taylor, the national head of Counter Terrorism Policing, said earlier this year he would like to put “huge pressure on the bosses” of major technology firms to do more to tackle extremist content online, warning they were “not even close to doing enough” to address the scale of the threat.
Sadly, these men, and they are mostly men, have shown that they will not yield to pressure. The only way to protect our children is by forcing these billionaire tech bros to change through new laws.
These new Prevent figures should be a wake up call to all parliamentarians. They are the only ones who can bring about the change needed to ensure our young people are protected.