Nova Scotia·NewOnline extremism expert Matt Kriner explains the danger of violent online groups like 764. The group is at the heart of child pornography charges laid recently against a 16-year-old Halifax-area teen. Violent online groups like 764 have become ‘very dangerous’ and ‘persistent’ threats, says expertCBC News · Posted: Oct 31, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 30 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutes764 and its related groups draw inspiration from a satanic neo-Nazi movement called the Order of Nine Angles (O9A). (CBC)A Halifax-area teenager facing child pornography charges in relation to an online extremist group made a brief appearance Thursday in Nova Scotia youth court.The 16-year-old boy is scheduled to return to court on Nov. 20 for election and plea.Police said this week the youth is alleged to be a member of the group 764, whose members coerce children into harming themselves and others, including engaging in sexual activity on camera.CBC News spoke with Matt Kriner, the executive director of the Institute for Countering Digital Extremism, to find out more about 764. The institute is a think-tank and consulting group that combats violent extremism and develops counterterrorism strategies in co-operation with police forces around the world.This interview has been edited for length and clarity.What is 764?764 is a predominantly digital network that has occurred online and engages in a lot of really egregious harms that are driven in part by a violent extremist ideology, but in part by a desire to inflict as much harm and chaos in society and upon other individuals.How big a problem is this group?This network has become the dominant brand within a larger ecosystem of what’s often referred to as the Com or community where extortions and doxings [compiling and releasing someone’s personal information] and swattings [making a crank call to emergency services in effort to dispatch armed police officers to an address] are a very common occurrence. So this ecosystem is very dangerous. It’s turned itself into quite a persistent threat that has challenged law enforcement globally in countering its rise.Police said they don’t yet know of any other group members or victims in Nova Scotia. Is this an isolated case?If we have the case of an individual, like there in Halifax, it is reasonable to presume there is other individuals that are victimized by maybe a different perpetrator or they themselves are a perpetrator as well. That’s not to say we have evidence of that at this stage. But increasingly what we’re finding is that once it starts in a community, that tends to grow marginally over time.Police are appealing for people who may be victims of this group to come forward. But that can be easier said than done, right?Once the individual has been identified, it can create a secondary and tertiary experience of trauma for them, as well as a revictimization, additional types of harms, such as another layer of doxing of family members, swatting calls to their house, persistent harassment online. So it is a dissuasion for many individuals to come forward.The following resources are available for more information and support:https://novascotia.ca/cyberscan/https://needhelpnow.cahttps://cybertip.caRCMP fact sheet on violent online groupsKids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868. Text 686868. Live chat counselling on the website.MORE TOP STORIESwith files from Blair Rhodes
Q&A: What you should know about 764, the online extremist group driven by ‘harm and chaos’
