Victoria
Children accessing violent extremism at disturbing rate
Australia's counter-terrorism coordinator warns a public inquiry that children are accessing violent extremist material at an increasingly young age.
Australia's national counter-terrorism coordinator has warned a public inquiry that children are engaging with violent extremist material online at an increasingly young age, describing the current rate of exposure as disturbing.
According to reporting by a wire service, the warning highlights growing concerns among national security officials regarding how early young people are being exposed to radicalising content.
The coordinator told the inquiry that the age at which children first encounter extremist material is falling. However, specific age groups, statistical trends, and the exact platforms where this material is being accessed were not detailed in the initial reports.
It remains unconfirmed which specific ideological groups or types of violent extremism are most prevalent among the material being accessed by Australian minors. Security agencies have previously noted a rise in both religiously motivated and ideologically motivated extremism online, but the coordinator did not publicly single out any single source during the latest briefing.
Government and educational bodies have been grappling with the rise of online radicalisation, though the specific measures proposed to counter this trend at a school or family level were not outlined in the testimony.
The inquiry is expected to continue hearing from security agencies, social media analysts, and community leaders to better understand the digital pathways leading young people toward violent extremism.
Further hearings will be closely monitored to see if the federal government proposes new regulations targeting social media platforms that fail to restrict extremist content.
This report draws on original reporting by Wire report.
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