EXPLAINER: What is '764'? The online extremist group luring kids into violence, pornography 

Trigger Warning: The story mentions violence and sexual abuse involving minors

The deadly shooting in a Tacloban City high school, which killed three students, is being linked to an online extremist group called “764,” said Senator Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday.

The senator said that the tragic incident may have been influenced by the group believed to be part of a nihilistic violent extremism network. She added that “764” was tagged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in the United States as a “national security threat” and by the Canadian government as a terrorist group.

According to the Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET), “764” is an online child extortion group founded in 2021 by Discord user Bradley Cadenhead.

“764” reportedly took inspiration from another Discord community, “Cvlt”, that forced children to perform sexual acts on camera for sextortion.

“According to the statement of facts reviewed by the authors, the investigating officer found that Cadenhead had been fascinated with online content depicting murder and torture from the age of 10. Subsequently, Cadenhead became acquainted with an unknown individual through the online game Minecraft who aided him in starting the group known as 764,” said GNET.

But “764” also encourages other forms of violence among minors such as animal torture, incest, rape, self-harm, and bestiality.

“764 force victims to carry out four key types of harm that may be recorded and shared on social media platforms or disseminated internally. These include forced drug use and self-harm, such as non-suicidal self-injury with blades or needles, asphyxiation or burning,” said GNET.

“New members are also encouraged to engage in animal abuse, being forced to injure or kill personal pets or other animals,” it added.

Meanwhile, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a US-based anti-hate group, said that the ideology of “764” is rooted in “nihilism and misanthropy, promoting a worldview that rejects moral norms and sees no value in human life.”

Both the GNET and ADL noted that “764” recruits its victims from online communities, including Roblox and Minecraft, which are currently the subject of debate in the Philippines.

“Discord serves as the preferred platform for this purpose. Discord’s popularity with 764 arises from the many pre-existing communities they can recruit from on the platform. This ranges from Roblox or Minecraft servers run by 764 users, self-harm servers, gore, etc. Additionally, the ease of server creation and management and the capacity for text, voice, and video communication all make it an attractive platform for their purposes,” said GNET.

“764 members employ several techniques to lure victims into these private spaces, including offering in-game rewards or virtual currency for games like Roblox, or feigning romantic interest to coerce the victim into sharing personal or compromising information,” said ADL.

Prior to the recent shooting and stabbing incidents, online gaming platform Roblox was under scrutiny after reports of alleged recruitment of minors for illegal activities.

However, the Department of Information and Communications Technology said in April that it has abandoned plans to ban Roblox in the country, following the online gaming platform’s commitment to enhance safeguards amid child safety concerns.

Cadenhead was arrested in 2021 and is now serving an 80-year prison sentence in Texas. —LDF, GMA News