The exact size of the network behind what is called nihilistic violent extremism is unclear. However, police investigators from nine European countries discovered about 4,340 internet addresses related to “The COM,” as this online community became known, during a campaign conducted in June and July to disrupt this activity.
“It is violence for the sake of violence itself,” said European Union (EU) counter-terrorism coordinator Bartjan Wegter in an interview with the news agency AP ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington.
Last year, 10 out of 27 EU countries reported a total of 45 terrorist attacks, although none of them were large-scale incidents with many victims. About half of them were foiled or failed, but six people died. In total, 486 individuals suspected of links to terrorism were arrested in 21 EU countries, according to the EU police agency Europol.
Jihadist groups, often led or inspired by networks outside Europe, carried out 24 attacks, and their representatives accounted for more than 70% of all arrests.
Of all those arrested, about one-third were under 18 years old, mostly boys.
Europol does not collect statistical data on nihilistic violent extremism because its definitions vary, and such acts can be classified as either ordinary crimes or terrorism.
However, in Finland in 2025, a 16-year-old teenager injured three female college students with a knife. It is suspected that he shared a “manifesto” in WhatsApp groups, recorded the attack on Snapchat, and asked on social networks for someone to save and pass on this video after he is released.
In his “manifesto,” he stated that he wanted to do something “meaningful and exciting.” According to an EU document on the emerging threat of nihilistic extremist violence, no political motive for his rampage was identified.
Violence as entertainment
“It is a very strong fascination with violence. It is violence as a means to establish oneself, as a means to gain status in those online communities,” Wegter told AP. “There is no direct connection to ideology.”
In Italy last year, a 15-year-old planned a murder to become famous online, local officials said. On his smartphone, he kept photos and videos of attacks, murders, school shootings, and child pornography.
Wegter said that such incidents, which have been increasing for two or three years, are not isolated but are organized by online networks “often incited by youth for young people, often involving young boys.”
He added that they “lead to real-life violence. We have seen knife attacks where a young person stabbed an elderly person for no reason.”
It is difficult to prevent or track such attacks. They often involve “young individuals who usually have no criminal record, leave no traces except perhaps online, but even that often happens behind encrypted walls and communities,” Wegter said.
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Conspiracies online
At the top of the list of groups under officials’ scrutiny is “764,” founded by American dropout Bradley Cadenhead. He is serving an 80-year prison sentence for child pornography and sexual offenses, but this group still operates.
In Germany last year, a 20-year-old man, believed to be a leading member of “764,” faced 123 charges of “unimaginable cruelty and inhumanity,” including murder, rape, and sexual abuse of children, according to an EU document.
Unlike 25 years ago, when extremists, mostly from Saudi Arabia, came to the US and trained to become suicide pilots, today’s terrorism threat to Europe is mostly organized online.
“The online environment, despite all the good things it brings, is still too tolerant,” Wegter said. He described it as a “Petri dish where different threats converge.”
Privacy versus security amid growing AI popularity
Privacy advocates emphasize that people have the right to communicate without unjustified interference. They accuse officials and some companies of harming protection by using spyware and other methods.
However, Wegter stressed that “our law enforcement must have the means and tools to deal with today’s threat.” He noted that 85% of investigations take place in the digital environment.
“That means we have to adapt to it,” he says.
For the Dutch diplomat himself, this means more talks with authorities and organizations in other countries, especially those used by such groups as rear bases.
“Because what happens beyond our borders affects our security,” including what is spread online, Wegter said.
Europol said criminals use images and sound to create and edit propaganda, including video fakes, internet memes, and GIF files.
AI-driven bots are also used to promote recruitment and propagate terrorist ideologies, and artificial intelligence apps are used in preparing attacks.
“Such violent content, violence-inciting content, propaganda, manuals, tactics, everything available is greatly amplified by artificial intelligence,” Wegter said.
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