On The Ground; Battle for Young Hearts and Minds as Extremists Grow Savvy Online

The Straits Times

22 February 2021

A 17-year-old detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) in January last year had begun to walk down the path of radicalisation in 2017 when he was 15 years old, after imbibing Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) material online. Last December, a 16-year-old became the youngest detainee yet to be dealt with under the ISA, and the first to be enthralled by far-right extremist ideology. They are the latest in an emerging pattern that sees those being dealt with for terror-linked activity getting younger. All had been radicalised online and each was a prime target for recruitment by extremists due to their young age, experts said. They noted that extremists have displayed savvy in tapping online trends and emerging platforms to spread their ideology to young people. For instance, far-right extremists in the West have used chatrooms on messaging platform Discord – popular with young gamers – to spread their message, said Mr Muhammad Faizal Abdul Rahman, a homeland defence Research Fellow from RSIS.

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