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On popular online platforms, predatory groups coerce children into self-harm | Vulnerable teens are blackmailed into degrading and violent acts by abusers who then boast about it
A global network of online groups has targeted thousands of children with a sadistic form of social media terror that authorities and technology companies have struggled to control, an examination finds.
The abusers were part of an emerging international network of online groups that have targeted thousands of children with a sadistic form of social media terror that authorities and technology companies have struggled to control, according to an examination by The Washington Post, Wired Magazine, Der Spiegel in Germany and Recorder in Romania. While lawmakers, regulators and social media critics have long scrutinized how Facebook and Instagram can harm children, this new network thrives on Discord and the messaging app Telegram — platforms that the group 764 has used as “vessels to desensitize vulnerable populations” so they might be manipulated, a federal prosecutor said in court recently. The Post and its media partners shared reporting for this examination, including court and police records from multiple countries, and interviews with researchers, law enforcement officials and seven victims or their families — all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their safety — in North America and Europe.
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