Europol Flags 4,340 URLs for Removal in 'The Com' Crackdown
Europol has flagged 4,340 URLs for removal during a multi-week operation targeting online content linked to 'The Com,' a loosely organized network of nihilistic violent extremist groups.
Intelligence analysis by Llama
Europol's operation aimed to disrupt The Com's online ecosystem, limit nihilistic violent extremism content disseminated online by The Com groups, and generate new investigative leads.
The Com is a group of people who spread bad ideas online, like hurting themselves or others, and they're trying to recruit kids to join them. Europol, a group that helps keep people safe, is trying to stop them by taking down their websites and finding the people behind it.
Analysis
What is The Com?
Europol describes The Com (short for Community) as a decentralized network lacking unified ideology, where some factions pursue violent right-wing extremist and accelerationist beliefs. The Com-affiliated groups recruit and groom victims through social media, messaging apps, and gaming platforms, coercing them into self-harm, violence, and the production of child sexual abuse material, often through extortion.
The Com's Content
The content referenced in this operation includes violent videos and images depicting self-harm, suicide, child sexual abuse material (CSAM), animal cruelty, and violent attacks. Other types of content include videos of violent street attacks, a practice known as 'manhunt,' or arson. Additionally, The Com produces manuals or guides covering topics such as grooming, murder, improvised explosives, or ideological viewpoints. These manuals are created by groups to instruct members on methods for committing violent attacks, grooming and (s)extorting vulnerable minors, or conducting doxing and swatting.
The Operation
The joint action, which ties into the European Commission's ProtectEU counterterrorism agenda and was organized by Europol's EU Internet Referral Unit (EU IRU) and Spain's Intelligence Centre against Terrorism and Organised Crime (CITCO), aimed to disrupt The Com's online ecosystem, limit nihilistic violent extremism content disseminated online by The Com groups, and generate new investigative leads. Investigators from nine countries (i.e., Belgium, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden) took part in what Europol called 'Referral Action Days' between June and July 2026.
Key points
- Europol has flagged 4,340 URLs for removal during a multi-week operation targeting online content linked to 'The Com,' a loosely organized network of nihilistic violent extremist groups.
- The operation aimed to disrupt The Com's online ecosystem, limit nihilistic violent extremism content disseminated online by The Com groups, and generate new investigative leads.
- The Com-affiliated groups recruit and groom victims through social media, messaging apps, and gaming platforms, coercing them into self-harm, violence, and the production of child sexual abuse material, often through extortion.
If this operation is successful, it could lead to a decrease in online content promoting nihilistic violent extremism, making it harder for these groups to recruit and groom victims.
However, the operation may not be enough to completely stop The Com, as they are a decentralized network with no unified ideology, making it harder to track and disrupt their activities.
