Security
Stop the spread (of online recruiting and propaganda)
Europol and its partners’ investigators flagged 4,340 “horrific” URLs for removal over several weeks in June and July as part of an ongoing crackdown on The Com (short for community), a loosely knit network of online groups whose young members participate in a range of illicit activities. These range from hacking, swatting, and digital extortion to real-life shootings, stabbings, and other physical violence.
Europol’s recent Referral Action Days, aimed at disrupting The Com’s online ecosystem and stopping the spread of its propaganda, is part of the larger Project Compass operation. Project Compass began in 2025, and its partner law-enforcement agencies span the US, UK, and EU member states.
Investigators from Belgium, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden participated in the Referral Action Days during June and July.
Various groups linked to The Com post content online to recruit members and groom young victims using social media, gaming platforms, and messaging apps.
“The more extreme and harmful the content a user or group can produce or extort, the higher their status within the online community,” according to Europol. “These acts are often livestreamed on social media platforms, where online bystanders cheer them on, and later saved and disseminated.”
The URLs flagged for removal during this latest push to disrupt The Com’s recruiting activities included “violent videos and images depicting self-harm, suicide, child sexual abuse material (CSAM), animal cruelty, and violent attacks,” the international cops said.
This, the European cops say, includes so-called blood walls, which are paintings made with blood that display the extorter’s alias and group affiliation, and cut-signs, where the victims are forced to carve the extorter’s name into their bodies.
It also includes videos of street attacks and arson, plus manuals on how to commit these violent attacks, along with instructions on grooming and extorting vulnerable minors, and conducting doxxing and swatting.
Europol says its European Counter Terrorism Centre has received “hundreds” of requests from member states and others over the past two years to help investigate crimes linked to The Com. It describes the online network as a “global threat, particularly concerning minors as both victims and perpetrators.”
Last year, both the UK and US issued similar warnings about a subset of The Com that recruits children and teens for contract shootings, kidnappings, and other real-life violent crimes. In July 2025, the FBI said that In Real Life (IRL) Com had become increasingly brazen in its swat-for-hire and violence-as-a-service solicitations.
The FBI’s alert followed a similar notice from the UK National Crime Agency about a “deeply concerning” trend of The Com recruiting teenage boys to commit a range of criminal acts, from cyber fraud and ransomware to child sexual abuse.®
