Extremists using online gaming and Covid conspiracies to recruit youngsters

Rightwing extremists are using Covid controversies and online gaming as a way of recruiting young people, as data shows half of the most serious cases of suspected radicalisation reported by schools and colleges now involve far-right activity.

Figures published by the Home Office show twice as many young people in education in England and Wales last year were thought to be at risk of radicalisation by the extreme right-wing, compared with those at risk from Islamic extremists.

The new figures from the government’s Prevent anti-extremism programme, covering 2020-21, show that 310 people were referred to Prevent by schools, colleges and universities because of far-right links. Just 157 were referred because of vulnerability to Islamic extremism.

But while fewer than one in five cases of suspected Islamic extremism were escalated by the authorities, nearly one in three cases involving far-right extremism were passed on to the government’s Channel scheme, which aims to safeguard individuals thought most likely to be radicalised and drawn into terrorist activity.

Sean Arbuthnot, a Prevent coordinator for Leicestershire, said that while far-right extremism has been on the rise for several years, online apps and platforms were increasingly cropping up in referrals, including gaming platforms and chat apps such as Discord, as rightwing groups sought to reach young people.

While eight violent and racist rightwing groups have been proscribed by the government, Arbuthnot said he was concerned by far-right groups that have yet to be banned attaching themselves to existing controversies.

“[Some] during the pandemic conducted leafleting campaigns, where they would promote the narrative that Covid is a hoax, that hospital wards are empty, and that you shouldn’t get the vaccine. Then they load their leaflets with pseudo-scientific evidence. But at the same time they drop leaflets purporting that white people are going to be a minority in Britain, which plays into peoples fears,” Arbuthnot said.

“If you engage with them on a YouTube platform, and scroll through the comments section, you may then find links to more encrypted chatrooms or extreme right-wing codes or signs and symbols that you may be tempted to research.

“That’s one of the troubling ways right-wing extremists can play on the fears that have resulted from Covid-19 and conspiracies, to groom, essentially, vulnerable young people in the online space.”

One school leader in the east Midlands – who asked not to be named – said that the lockdowns and extended time spent out of school meant there had been a “shock” in hearing pupils return to school with dangerous and extreme attitudes.

“A few came back, and it was like they were speaking a different language that I imagine they can only have picked up online,” she said.

Research by UCL’s Institute of Education earlier this year found teachers are seeing a rise in extremist views and conspiracy theories among pupils, but feel they lack the training or resources to tackle it.

Becky Taylor of the UCL Institute of Education, said: “The teachers we spoke to told us it was rare for young people to join extremist groups, but it was very common for young people to express extreme views in schools.”

Of the teachers surveyed, 95% had heard pupils express racist views, 90% had encountered homophobia or conspiracy theories and nearly three-quarters had encountered extremist views on women or Islamophobic views.

“For teachers in the classroom, because young people can get quite deep into these views and can be very well versed in all the arguments, if you are not expert in these things yourself, it can be very difficult to challenge them,” Taylor said.

Owen Jones, director of training and education for Hope Not Hate, said the charity was seeing younger students becoming involved in far-right extremism, including boys as young as 13, often using the Telegram messaging app.

Schools are “poorly equipped” to tackle the problem, Jones said, because the language of the new extreme right or alt-right has changed so much, that many teachers may not have a clue what students were talking about.

But Arbuthnot said schools and colleges in Leicester had developed bespoke projects using local organisations and charities, adapting their techniques as they became aware of new dangers.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the Prevent figures emphasised the need for improved support for schools in tackling those issues, as well as more action by platforms to block and remove harmful content and robust online regulation.

While overall referrals from the education sector under Prevent have fallen – from close to 2,000 to 1,221 in 2020-21 – the extended closure of schools, colleges and universities after March last year is responsible. The largest category of referrals was for individuals with unstable or unclear ideologies, but fewer than one in 10 of those referrals became Channel cases.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “It is vitally important that if anyone has a concern about someone they think may be being radicalised, that they act early and seek help.”

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