Peter Smith
Canadian Anti-Hate Network
Source: Moritz Kindler/Unsplash
This article includes descriptions of self-harm, suicide, and child sexual abuse material.
Canada’s national law enforcement agency has announced that a teenager is facing a terrorism charge for alleged involvement with an international network of individuals targeting children.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced on Thursday that its national security enforcement team, INSET, had arrested a 15-year-old in Edmonton, Alberta, “for a terrorism-related offence.”
“The youth was remanded into custody and the RCMP has commenced proceedings against the youth by way of a terrorism peace bond, pursuant to s. 810.011 of the Criminal Code – Fear of terrorism offence,” the RCMP said in a release.
“INSET investigators fear the youth will commit terrorism offences related to the COM/764 violent online network.”
The charge “Fear of terrorism offence” is brought against individuals when there are reasonable grounds to establish that they may commit an act of terrorism. If a provincial judge agrees the concern is valid, they can place the accused under recognizance for up to 12 months. That term can be extended up to five years, according to the Criminal Code, if the defendant was previously convicted of terrorism.
Individuals can also be jailed for up to 12 months if they refuse or fail to abide by the conditions of the recognizance. These conditions can include treatment programs, electronic monitoring devices, abstaining from drugs and alcohol, and more. Other conditions include restrictions on owning firearms, turning over their passport, and remaining within a specific geographic area.
The teen is scheduled to appear for a bail hearing on June 3, 2025. Due to their age, many details about the case will not be made public, including their connection to child abuse networks found in the sprawling online community known sometimes as The Com or the 764 Network.
764 is by far the best-known of the many subgroups active within the exploitative Com ecosystem, particularly due to the arrests of several of its members. According to Mack Lamoureux, the 764 network pushed individuals into horrific acts of violence and self-harm. Though its founder, then-17-year-old Bradley Cadenhead, was sentenced to life in prison, the group has been survived by several newer iterations of 764 and has included at least one Canadian minor.
In April, the US Justice Department announced that it had arrested Prasan Nepal, a 20-year-old from High Point, North Carolina, for his role in 764. Nepal had assumed leadership of 764 after Cadenhead’s arrest. Nepal and another man, Leonidas Varagiannis, are accused of exploiting “at least eight minor victims” with content “traced back to children as young as 13 years old.”
764 & The Com
The Com often defies typical labels that have come to define hate and extremist networks. While there are elements of other extremist groups, like the accelerationist Order of Nine Angles (O9A)—an occult order commonly associated with neo-Nazi movements—researchers generally view these connections to Com as aesthetic with some notable exceptions. Imagery and symbols from the O9A are shared by members of these networks, but the purpose and motivations of the network do not draw from the spanning philosophical texts of the order.
The Com network has been increasingly discussed by researchers, media, and law enforcement alike. What is often missed by the coverage is how broad “The Community” extends. Initially identified as an information security threat, not all Com groups engage in the creation of child sexual exploitation material, but a host of other criminal activities.
This includes financial crimes like credit card fraud, ransomware, and SIM swapping, as well as doxing and swatting as a service.
Marc-André Argentino, a senior research fellow at the Accelerationist Research Consortium, has written about what he calls the different “pillars of the Com network.” This divides the ecosystem into several overlapping subcultures. This includes Cyber Com, the branch of the network focused on online financial criminal activity; Sextortion Com, the branch of the culture focused on exploiting and extorting at-risk and vulnerable youth through inducing them to commit self-harm and create and distribute CSAM; and Offline Com, which encourages its members to commit a variety of criminal activities ranging from petty vandalism to stabbings to acts of terror.
Recording and gamifying each step of the process of indoctrination and exploitation, Sextortion Com is typically what is meant when discussing the “764 Network.” 764 is arguably the most widely-known group to come out of the subculture, and its name has become synonymous with the broader network.
Participants often track how they lead their victims into committing heinous acts alongside the actual product of the extortion in “lore books.”
In some cases, victims are manipulated into using blades to cut the screen names of their abusers into their skin. Perpetrators use these images to increase their reputation and status within the community.
Images and videos created by victims are then used to coerce them into committing more, sometimes escalating acts of depravity and harm. The images and lore books are then circulated among the group and online.
Some victims are encouraged to go on to exploit others similarly, perpetuating the cycle of abuse.
Some Com groups do engage in financial crime, with individuals teaching each other how to carry out a variety of scams using stolen financial information. It is worth noting that the extortion aspects of Comm are rarely for financial gain, rather focusing on further tormenting and, conversely, radicalizing their victims. In some cases, there are clear separations between Com groups focused on sexual exploitation and monetary gain.
Law enforcement agencies in the United States and Canada have issued warnings to parents laying out the threat posed by communities like Comm. In 2023, the FBI released a bulletin warning people about 764 and associated networks.
In a statement released by the RCMP’s National Security Program on August 27, they lay out some of the activities of the Comm. The notice includes indicators for parents that their children may have fallen victim to or otherwise be engaging with Comm.
“There are many major crimes being committed by these groups. Most concerning is the sexual exploitation, harm inflicted on children and animals, and aim to get victims to commit suicide on camera,” the statement said.
Earlier this year, a 14-year-old from Lethbridge was charged with making child pornography, distributing child pornography, possession of child pornography, non-consensual distribution of intimate images and making/possession of explosives. Media reporting has linked the teen to the Comm network.
In July 2024, RCMP in Newfoundland also issued a public notice warning of a “violent online network” targeting children from ages eight to 17, “particularly 2SLGBTQIA+ youth, racial minorities and those with mental health issues.” The notice named 764, Court, and several other groups from the Comm networks.
Many Com groups do not restrict its membership to individuals of European descent. Members are focused on committing acts viewed as repulsive and immoral by society in order to boost their reputations within the network, rather than achieving goals of racial supremacy. This means that while the symbols of National Socialism and overt racism are frequently used by Com associates, they do not directly reflect the network’s ideology.
Com networks often communicate using the encrypted messaging application Telegram and Discord, a chat program originally intended for gamers, but is utilized by millions to create and manage online communities. Victims are sometimes recruited in video games popular with children like Minecraft and Roblox.
Targeted individuals will receive direct messages or be invited to move to other platforms “where the conversation quickly becomes sexualized or violent,” according to the RCMP.
If a child or youth in your life has been affected by online sexual victimization, or you have yourself, contact the Canadian Centre for Child Protection for support and resources.
