Self-harm in children alarms judicial police: online groups use games to radicalise minors
Judicial police warn of dozens of victims in Portugal lured by online groups to engage in self-harm and attacks on people and animals.
Online groups radicalise children with computer games and demand videos of violent acts
Correio da Manhã reports that organised groups on social networks are using computer games to lure minors in Portugal into committing self-harm, assaulting other people and mistreating animals. There are large numbers of victims identified in the country.
The Judicial Police (PJ) are closely monitoring this form of online radicalisation. Patrícia Silveira, director of the National Counter-Terrorism Unit (UNCT), explained to Correio da Manhã that the perpetrators seek only "chaos for chaos's sake, violence for violence's sake". In many cases, the groups demand video proof of the acts committed by the victims.
The children and young people involved enter a cycle from which they are unlikely to escape after yielding to the initial demands. The profiles of greatest vulnerability include minors with lower self-esteem, who become progressively dependent on the group's dynamic.
In response to the phenomenon, an awareness campaign entitled "Online hate kills offline" is underway. The initiative aims to encourage early identification of cases and risk factors for victims, before the cycle of violence becomes entrenched.
Source: Correio da Manhã