Online Extremism and Youth Safety

CBS documents how a 13‑year‑old Kentucky girl, Audree Seitz, died by suicide after years of immersion in the online “True Crime Community” (TCC) on platforms like Roblox, Discord and TikTok, where users glorify school shooters and trade gore content. Extremism researchers describe TCC and a related network known as 764 as a form of nihilistic violent extremism that prizes notoriety, self‑harm and exploitation of vulnerable youth rather than any coherent ideology. FBI Director Kash Patel says such cases rose 300% between September 2024 and September 2025 and that the bureau is pursuing hundreds of investigations, many linked to 764, and the FBI confirmed it has contacted Audree’s family. Data from school‑shooting researcher David Riedman tie at least seven K‑12 shootings over the last two years — with 11 killed and 53 injured — to TCC‑style online communities, even as most participants never act on the rhetoric. The piece underscores a widening gap between how parents see their kids’ “true crime” interests and what is actually happening in hidden online subcultures, and it raises fresh questions about how aggressively platforms and law enforcement are monitoring and disrupting these networks.