Executive Summary

Terrorists and violent extremists* (TVEs) are incorporating more cutting-edge online tools, including AI, into the creation and dissemination of propaganda and hate speech, efforts to recruit new members, and advance programs to incite violence. Minors and young people are increasingly targeted and exploited, likely due to their maturity, generational vulnerabilities, and status as digital natives, and Europol this year flagged a significant increase in young people and minors in the EU involved in terrorist and violent extremist activities as a result of online activity. We expect these trends to continue absent changes in conventional counter-terrorism methods and policy approaches to the moderation of online content. 

*Note: Terrorism and violent extremism are contested terms. This report uses them to refer to TVE cases in the EU, including Jihadism, political extremism (left- and right-leaning), anarchism, ethnonationalism and separatists, and others. Some of these groups advocate the collapse of democratic societies through violence and terror.