EXTREMIST groups are increasingly using memes to try and recruit younger people, a new report has claimed.

The report also says many extreme organisations, particularly far right groups, have used Covid 19 conspiracy theories as a recruitment tool in the past year.

On Thursday Bradford Council's Corporate Scrutiny Committee will hear the annual update of the Prevent programme in Bradford, which details what is being done in the district to turn people away from extremism.

Last year the annual report revealed that as the world went into lockdown, and adapted to working and learning online, extremist groups followed suit, adapting their techniques to draw people into their ideology over the internet.

This year's report says this shift has continued, with groups using the isolation felt by many young people during lockdown to try and groom them into supporting their cause - be it far right extremism or Islamic Extremism.

Anti-vax and anti-lockdown feeling among many has also been hijacked by groups trying to swing people towards their extreme ideologies.

And the report claims new strands of extremism are starting to emerge, including Left Wing extremism and "unclear and unstable ideologies" - a name often given to extremist ideas that may mix different causes and beliefs.

Extremist groups ‘move online’ to radicalise children during pandemic

The report says the main targets of extremist groups looking to recruit continue to be boys under 18, and those with mental health or emotional problems are seen as a particular target.

To entice this demographic, groups are using methods that are popular with younger people online, such as memes, to spread dangerous messages. Often people who see and share these online messages may not realise the role they are playing in spreading dangerous messages.

A meme is an image, such as a still from a cartoon or movie, with an often humorous message attached. They are often shared widely on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

The Prevent report claims extremist groups are hijacking this seemingly innocuous online trend to spread their messages.

It says: "These groups continue to utilise the online space to spread hate, conspiracy theories and mistrust between communities.

"Far Right groups particularly, have continued to use conspiracy theories about Covid-19 as a recruiting tool to attract younger supporters into their realms during 2021.

"The use of memes and conspiracy theories are attractive to a particularly younger audience and have been used to attract new support.

"Groups across West Yorkshire have been using the anti-lockdown etc. as a facade to promote their extremist views and in turn hopefully attract more members."

Mums stand up to radicalisation in new scheme aimed at protecting children and bringing people together

The report also highlights the danger of "self initiated terrorism" - which sees an individual acting along rather than being part of a sophisticated terror cell.

It says: "Self- initiated terrorism continues to be a risk, due to the low sophistication of the methods used and the ease at which things can be planned.

"The continued isolation and suspicion amongst some individuals makes the potential for such attacks high. This is not linked to any particular ideology and very much taps into suspicion over the pandemic, narratives associated with free speech, conspiracy theories and those with mixed, unclear and unstable ideologies."

Committee members will be told that locally the Prevent programme in Bradford has been tweaked to tackle "the ever growing risk from online extremism across all ideologies.

The report says; "Projects, training and support are very mindful of these ever developing risks and their potential to increase due to the vulnerabilities created by Covid."

In the past year Bradford has been awarded £312,132 to tackle the threat of extremism.

One ongoing scheme used to achieve this is Mothers Against Radicalisation, a programme that helps mothers from all backgrounds understand the online world, and help them recognise any potential threats of grooming and radicalisation.

Supplementary Schools Against Radicalisation is s scheme that works with imams and madrassahs to teach pupils "the skills to coherently challenge the Daesh (ISIS) narrative."

Bradford Peace Museum has run sessions that teach people how to spot lies and disinformation, the backbone of extremism, online.

Oddarts is a theatre performance to teach young people about different types of radicalisation.

And some local schools are involved in the Votes For Schools initiative, which to deliver a weekly debate on a topical or controversial issue, including extremism, conspiracy theories and radicalisation.

Another part of the Prevent strategy in Bradford is the “Channel” safeguarding scheme.

Bradford Council leads a panel of safeguarding professionals including police, social workers, NHS staff, schools and the justice system to identify those at risk of being drawn into terrorism, assess what the risk might be and then develop support for those referred to them. It could range from mentoring to things like managing stress or drug and alcohol programmes.