Teenage boys sharing misogynistic content online an 'emerging threat'

Teenage boys are joining online gangs where they share sadistic and misogynistic material that fuels crimes including fraud, violence and child sexual abuse, the director general of the National Crime Agency has warned.

- Rachel Hall

Offenders in online communities collaborate and compete to cause harm online and offline through cyber-attacks such as launching malware, ransomware or executing data breaches; fraud; extremism; grooming and blackmailing; serious violence; and child sexual abuse, according to the NCA, which leads the UK's fight to cut serious and organised crime.

Online communities known as "Com" networks are an "emerging threat", reports of which have increased sixfold in the UK from 2022 to 2024. The agency's analysts estimate that millions of messages in the UK and other western countries have been shared relating to sexual and physical abuse.

The NCA director general, Graeme Biggar, said: "These groups are not lurking on the dark web, they exist in the same online world and platforms young people use on a daily basis.

"Operating online clearly makes these offenders feel protected and out of reach but that is absolutely not the case. There have already been convictions."

Concern about boys and young men in the online "manosphere" is growing, after the Netflix hit Adolescence became the most talked about TV show of the year for its depiction of the relationship between online "incel" culture and real-world harm.