ISIS ‘using Covid lockdown to brainwash Brit kids in their bedrooms with VIDEO GAMES to make them lone wolf attackers’

From the Sun

ISIS have used the Covid lockdown to groom Brit kids while they are stuck in their bedrooms through social media and video games, experts have warned. Terror cops have previously cautioned that the jihadi fanatics are using the pandemic to spread hate online as well as recruit vulnerable young people.

Eilish O’Gara, a former counter terrorism analyst, told The Sun Online lockdown has created “a very easy environment for terrorists to operate.” She explained that ISIS will have been using online platforms – such as video games and social media – target “vulnerable” youngsters as schools were closed during the UK lockdown. It raises the prospect of many youths emerging from months in isolation potentially having picked up extremist views online. 

Ms O’Gara, a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society think tank, explained that forcing children to stay at home has caused a “severe lack of interaction” between them and people trained to protect them. She said: “What we are seeing is a severe lack of interaction between vulnerable young people and the public institutions that are trained to spot the signs of radicalisation. They haven’t in contact with schools, social workers and care providers. That’s how extremists will make a foothold in the bedroom of these children – because the signs and symptoms of radicalisation won’t be spotted.”

“…The kinds of games they target are the ones played by children who may have an interest in violence. But it could be any platform – as long as there is a vulnerable person sat on the other side of that console, it doesn’t matter about the game.”

She added that the fanatics also target young people on social media platforms, end-to-end encrypted platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram as well as online forums.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab warned earlier this month that ISIS are recruiting British kids in “worrying” numbers during lockdown. He said the death cult’s “brand has weakened – it remains, nonetheless, globally recognised” and said terror cops had detected a 7 per cent rise in extremist content online.

Meanwhile, Home Secretary Priti Patel last year warned the UK is facing a growing threat from “lone wolves” – terrorists who are radicalised at home and act alone to commit attacks.