Bartjan Wegter, the European Union Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, told the Associated Press that a third of people detained on terror-related suspicion across the bloc last year were under the age of 18. He warned that online extremist communities are increasingly recruiting young boys and turning violence into a form of entertainment.
Scale of the threat in 2023
According to the EU police agency Europol, 45 terrorist attacks were recorded in ten of the 27 member states during 2023. None of these incidents resulted in mass casualties, but six people lost their lives and roughly half of the plots were thwarted before they could be carried out.
Europol reported 486 individuals suspected of terrorist links were arrested in 21 countries. Jihadist groups, often linked to networks outside Europe, were behind 24 of the attacks and accounted for more than 70% of the arrests. Of those taken into custody, around one third were under 18, the majority being boys.
Emerging form of nihilistic violent extremism
Investigators from nine European nations identified about 4,340 web addresses linked to an online community known as "The COM". The group is described as a hub for nihilistic violent extremism, a brand of violence pursued for its own sake rather than for a clear political ideology.
"It is violence for the sake of violence," Wegter said.
Europol does not keep separate statistics on this phenomenon because its definition overlaps with ordinary criminality and terrorism.
Cases that illustrate the trend
In Finland, a 16-year-old boy stabbed three female classmates in 2025, posted a video of the attack on Snapchat and circulated a manifesto via WhatsApp seeking notoriety. In Italy, a 15-year-old planned a murder to gain online fame, storing graphic images and videos on his phone.
German authorities also uncovered a 20-year-old member of the notorious "764" network, founded by American extremist Bradley Cadenhead, who faced more than a hundred charges including murder and sexual abuse of children.
Why it matters for European security
Wegter stressed that these incidents are not isolated. They are coordinated through encrypted online spaces where young participants leave few digital footprints. The lack of prior criminal records makes detection difficult, and the use of AI-generated propaganda, deepfakes and recruitment bots amplifies the reach of extremist content.
What comes next
The EU plans to equip law-enforcement agencies with advanced digital tools to track and disrupt these networks. Wegter called for greater cross-border cooperation, noting that threats originating abroad quickly spill over into European security.
At the same time, privacy advocates argue that surveillance measures must respect fundamental communication rights. The balance between security and privacy will shape the EU's response as AI-driven tools become more prevalent in extremist recruitment.