In the media
August 09, 2024
On Thursday, August 8th, Dutch news broadcaster NOS published an interview with Thomas Renard and Tanya Mehra about the rise in teenage terrorism in the wake of the foiled terrorist attack plan on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna.
"Young people have become more desensitized to seeing and using violence", Renard said. "Some young people radicalize online because they consume extremist propaganda that is often specifically made for a young audience. At the same time, you see that recruiters of terrorist groups on platforms such as Telegram or TikTok proactively approach users. They know that young people are susceptible to radicalization." he added.
Mehra also commented on how the police should deal with the online presence of groups that may encourage these trends: " If you leave content or groups online, you can collect evidence to potentially prosecute suspects. But if the content leads to incitement of violence and is based on misinformation, it is important to take it offline as quickly as possible."
Read the full article (in Dutch):
