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The intelligence partners of the ‘Five Eyes’ have warned about the radicalization of young people online, Reuters news agency reported on Thursday (December 5), citing a research paper from the alliance.

The Five Eyes, which includes the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, said in the paper that mental health, education and social services had to intervene in many cases before minors’ behavior became a police problem.

The alliance’s intelligence partners urged parents to be more alert to the risks. They also urged governments to strengthen legislation for law enforcement agencies to combat the threat and called on social media platforms to remove extremist content.

The newspaper states that extremists have used the Internet as a vector for their activities over the past thirty years.

“Online environments provide an opportunity for initial contact with minors, including through seemingly innocuous social media and gaming platforms, such as Discord, Instagram, Roblox and TikTok,” the research article said.

The Five Eyes research paper came as Australia and Britain released data on young people.

Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) Director General Mike Burgess said in a statement: “Around 20 per cent of ASIO’s priority counter-terrorism cases involve young people. In each of the terrorist attacks, disruptions and suspected terrorist incidents in Australia this year, the alleged perpetrator was a young person.”

“As a parent, the numbers are shocking. As an intelligence officer, the numbers are sobering,” Burgess added.

Meanwhile, figures published on Thursday show that in Britain a record number of 3,026 children under the age of 15 were referred to the government’s Prevent program in the past year, which aims to prevent individuals from becoming terrorists.

Citing the data, a report from The Telegraph said children under 15 accounted for 43.7 percent of all referrals to the program.

(With input from agencies)