Days after a horrific attack targeting a sitting member of Australia's federal parliament, one of the Australian Federal Police’s senior officers has warned the Australian government that online radicalisation is one of the law enforcement agency’s “greatest challenges” in its history.
“I will start by acknowledging the shocking, alleged attack against the Member for Indi, Dr Helen Haines. The AFP’s thoughts are with Dr Haines and her family,” AFP Acting Deputy Commissioner National Security Investigations Sandra Booth told the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) Inquiry into the nature and drivers of radicalisation in Australia in her opening statement.
“You will hear some very confronting content from me this morning. But to be frank, we need policymakers to hear clearly what the AFP is saying and predicting because we are facing one of our greatest challenges in history when it comes to youth radicalisation and manipulation.”
Acting Deputy Commissioner Booth added that while AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett is continuing to be briefed in alleged incident targeting Dr Haines, she was asked by the Commissioner “reinforce to the Committee that Australia is at the crossroads of a tsunami of youth crime, as young, vulnerable and impressionable individuals are being radicalised and manipulated at rapid speed”.
Booth provided a pair of examples to illustrate the AFP’s point. In one, a 13-year-old boy was found to have gathered “violent extremist material” via the Discord social media platform.
“During a warrant executed at his home, we allegedly found a notebook that contained plans for a school shooting,” Acting Deputy Commissioner Booth said.
“This was not in the US. This was in Australia. The juvenile is before the courts for Make Document Likely to Facilitate Terrorist Acts.”
In second example, Acting Deputy Commissioner Booth outlined trhe activity of an Australian teenager connecting with a “sadistic online network” in order to create child abuse material.
Acting Deputy Commissioner Booth referred to the groups such as The Com, a group of “loosely affiliated individuals who are motivated by nihilism, gore, sextortion, cyber disruption or violence”. The Com, it is believed, is thought to have links to cyber extortion groups such as ShinyHunters and other hacking collectives.
“These online groups go hunting for victims on social media or online games, and many victims are young girls,” Acting Deputy Commissioner Booth said.
“They are made to feel like they have made a friend, but realistically they are being groomed and then trapped in a cycle of hurting themselves for gratification of these online groups. Girls with eating disorders, low self-esteem or issues with mental health are vulnerable to these groups, but boys are also falling victim.”
Acting Deputy Commissioner Booth said that radicalisation used to be a process that takes time, but that now it can take just days.
“This can be attributed to artificial intelligence, a growing grievance generation, young people searching for purpose and belonging, and the sophistication of these online networks,” she said.
“While technology and AI bring many opportunities to society, including for law enforcement agencies, the AFP is deeply concerned AI is accelerating and lowering the skills required to actively manipulate and radicalise victims online, and cause serious harm.”
Acting Deputy Commissioner Booth went on to outline several steps the AFP and its partners were taking, including the creation of National Security Investigations teams and the Counter Terrorism Online Centre.
The latter, a joint project between the AFP and ASIO, “eventually aims to bring the best of two worlds together – human ingenuity with human-led and monitored AI, and will roll out over phases, to allow for likely legislative and technological builds”.
“I acknowledge my statement is confronting but we must have these honest conversations,” the Acting Deputy Commissioner concluded.
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