Some violent extremist groups, led by minors and young adults, are increasingly targeting kids online, in some cases, with deadly results. “There is a naive view of the dangers that are currently online,” says Mary Graw Leary, professor at the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University of America. She notes that despite ongoing efforts to protect children and youth in the digital space, “we see law enforcement issuing more and more warnings.” Several FBI field offices are focusing on 764, a loosely affiliated network of online communities that prey on vulnerable youth, typically coercing them to produce sexually explicit material, and then blackmailing them to harm themselves as well as others, even family pets.
