Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett addressed the National Press Club in Canberra today (Oct 29). Here is an edited excerpt of her speech:
Some of this conversation will be confronting, but as Commissioner, I want to empower communities by providing information they need to know.
One of my priorities is to protect vulnerable communities and our future prosperity, which includes our youth and future generations.
For many – including busy parents, and I am one of them – trying to navigate the two worlds our kids live in – the physical and the virtual – is like trying to understand two languages, two different friendship groups and two sets of norms.
And then there’s the never-ending battle to protect our curious kids from mis and disinformation and the dangerous online echo chambers that offer few alternative views.
Today, I will outline a worrying threat that we are still learning about in Australia, and why we all need to vigilant.
There are decentralised online crime networks and loosely affiliated individuals in Australia and offshore who are glorifying crime online, such as sadistic online exploitation, cyber-attacks and violence.
These crimes are now spilling into the real world and have real world consequences.
While these networks do not have a centralised hierarchy or a single ideology, they are prolific and are attracted to violent extremism, nihilism, sadism, Nazism and satanism.
They are crimefluencers, and are motivated by anarchy and hurting others, with most of their victims pre-teen or teenage girls.
These networks, which I will not name because it will validate the notoriety they crave, are a new and disturbing front in traditional gendered-based violence.
Overwhelmingly, the perpetrators are young boys and young men from Western English-speaking backgrounds.
Overwhelmingly, young girls are the victims, and they are being intimidated, exploited and controlled.
Typically, these young girls have low self-esteem, mental health disorders, history of self-harm, eating disorders or other attributes that may lead them to seek connection online.
This can make them more vulnerable to being targeted directly by these networks.
The motivation of individuals within these networks is not financial nor is it for sexual gratification – this is purely for their amusement – for fun – or to be popular online without fully understanding the consequences.
These groups have a similar culture to multi-player, online gaming culture, and hunt, stalk and draw-in victims from a range of online platforms.
To be accepted into these networks, the perpetrators often have to pass a test or undertake a task, such as providing videos of the self-harm of others, or other gory content.
This is where mainly vulnerable girls are being victimised. The young men groom victims online and then force them to perform serious acts of violence on themselves, their siblings, others, or even their pets.
In this new, twisted type of gamification, perpetrators reach a status or new level in their group when they provide more content showing more extreme acts of depravity and sadism.
And in some cases, perpetrators trade their victims with each other – just like in an online game.
Once traded, a new perpetrator can control their new victim.
In Australia, 59 alleged offenders have been identified as being members of some of these prolific decentralised online crime networks.
The AFP, working with law enforcement partners in Australia and overseas, has moved quickly against offenders, resulting in nine international and three domestic arrests. In Australia, those arrested were aged between 17-20 years old.
Our actions have also stopped the ongoing victimisation of children in Australia.
We have provided information to education departments, state and territory police and Commonwealth agencies to help them also navigate this trend.
Internationally, information provided by the AFP has contributed to arrests for murder, inciting suicide, inciting harm online, violent sexual offences, possession of child abuse and child sexual abuse material, as well as cybercrime offences such as unauthorised access of data and attempted extortion of organisations.
A sub-group within the Five Eyes Law Enforcement Group has also been established to target these groups.
And as a priority under my Commissionership, the AFP will set up Taskforce Pompilid to use the full powers of the AFP to target these offenders.
