Most youth terrorism prosecutions since 2020 were charged in the past two years, AFP says
Most of the young people prosecuted in Australian counter-terrorism cases since 2020 were charged in the last two years. The Australian Federal Police (AFP), the country's national police force, reported that 32 of the 37 young people prosecuted over that period were charged in the past two years, as Guardian Australia reported.
The AFP said minors made up 40 per cent of all active joint counter-terrorism cases in 2026, according to ABC News. The agency reviewed 55 cases involving 12- to 17-year-olds and found that every young person in them had been radicalised in whole or in part online.
The cases vary widely. Two teenagers in Darwin were charged in the month before 13 November with collecting documents that could facilitate acts of terrorism. About five months earlier, a Northern Territory teenager was charged over posts described as having pro-Nazi, anti-immigration, anti-trans and white nationalist themes. His charge sheet alleges that he possessed videos of the 2019 Christchurch mosque shooting and the 2022 Buffalo shooting.
In New South Wales, a teenager was sentenced on 10 November for acts in preparation and for offences involving violent extremist material, meaning extremist content that depicts or promotes violence. Two days later, the NSW joint counter-terrorism team charged a Sydney teenager with allegedly collecting documents and items for a terrorist attack, according to AFP media releases. A NSW teenager who pleaded guilty to possessing violent extremist material said he first came across such content on TikTok when he was 14.
The AFP also reviewed 55 youth cases and found that many of the young men involved had received support or intervention for a mental health condition, as Guardian Australia reported. The agency named TikTok, Instagram, Discord and Roblox as mainstream platforms where children are being radicalised. It cited research finding that a young person can be served violent extremist material within 23 minutes of going online.
Australia's laws on this material were updated in 2024. They allow police to investigate and prosecute people who access or share violent extremist material without proving that they were planning a physical attack. Australia's under-16 social media ban took effect in December 2025.
The AFP said that most of its youth counter-terrorism interventions involve conduct that goes further than online offences. That conduct includes collecting documents, writing manifestos, selecting targets, procuring survival kits and mobilising towards planning violent acts.
