MARYLAND INDICTS A MEMBER OF THE 764 GROUP ON CHILD-EXPLOITATION CHARGES, AND IN SYRIA, A BEDOUIN COUPLE DIES IN AN ATTACK MARKED BY SECTARIAN SYMBOLS

November 20-26, 2025 | Issue 45 - Extremism Team

Valentina González, Jacob Fields, Jacob Robison, Candela Echeverría

Clémence Van Damme, Senior Editor

Malicious Internet Usage^[1]

Date: November 20, 2025

Location: Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Parties involved: USA; US Attorney's Office of Maryland; state law enforcement; federal law enforcement; Nihilistic online extremist group 764; 764 members; 764 member Erik Lee Madison; 764 victims; cyber-sexual exploitation offenders; minors with mental health issues; media; 764’s preferred social media platforms; social media companies; virtual communication platform Discord

The event: The US Attorney's Office of Maryland indicted Madison on sexual exploitation, coercion, and enticement of minors.^[2]

Analysis & Implications:

• Media attention on Madison’s prosecution will likely encourage 764 victims to report similar abuses, likely exposing structural gaps in state and federal responses to cyber-enabled child exploitation. This high-profile case with effective punishments will likely increase victims’ trust and reporting, but limited state-level cybercrime resources and weak interjurisdictional coordination will unlikely fail to apprehend all offenders, likely resulting in prosecutorial delays and incomplete understandings of attacks. Inaccurate mapping of the attacks, such as the number of victims, will likely lead to shorter sentences and higher rates of offender recidivism, allowing the group 764 to continue sharing cyber exploitation techniques between members. The groups' adaptation capacity will likely exceed state law enforcement's response, likely forcing them to escalate cases to the federal level, likely enhancing their social media presence, and so their access to vulnerable minors, such as mental health patients.

• This indictment will unlikely prompt meaningful changes in automated content moderation on 764’s preferred social media platforms, allowing them to continue evading automated detection in similar incidents. The limited scope of the indictment will likely enable social media automation systems, such as Discord AutoMod, to claim they already meet external moderation expectations, very likely allowing social media companies to keep relying on keyword filters rather than improving their detection models. The lack of modifications will very likely allow 764  to adapt their tactics to evade automated detection, likely shifting wording to bypass automated content moderation and using editing tools to conceal illicit material. There will be a roughly even chance that advances in evasion tactics will accelerate the long-term use of social media in the radicalisation process by allowing harmful narratives to spread unchecked.

Date: November 23, 2025

Location: Zaidal, Homs Province, Syria

Parties involved: Syria; unknown attackers; nomadic Middle Eastern tribe Bedouin; murdered Bedouin couple; tribal groups; aggrieved tribe members; civilians; local tribal leaders; sectarian communities; ISIS; ISIS recruiters; ISIS recruits

The event: Unknown attackers killed a Bedouin couple, leaving sectarian symbols.^[3]

Analysis & Implications:

• The Homs attack will very likely drive Syrian sectarian communities to segregate territorially, very likely perceiving transitional justice in the country as biased and state-sponsored. Syria’s geopolitical distribution will very likely develop into fragmented ethnic enclaves where tribal groups withdraw from mixed areas, likely controlling physical space through armed checkpoints and makeshift walls. The territorial segregation will very likely create more hostile “the other” perspectives instead of encouraging constructive dialogue, very likely weakening community trust in the effectiveness of state-led transitional justice to address inter-communal harm. The segregation and its reinforcing interpretations will very likely limit the space for cross-sectarian cooperation around a common transitional justice agenda, very likely anchoring community engagement in enclave-specific priorities that filter justice through local fears and identity-driven boundaries.

• ISIS cells will likely capitalize on the fallout of the attack by exploiting civilian grievances to bolster recruitment. Recruiters will likely covertly network with aggrieved tribe members to urge radicalization, encouraging retaliation as ideologically and morally responsible, while incentivizing ISIS alignment. Cyclical retaliations will likely deepen civilian frustration, giving ISIS an opening to persuade local leaders and reduce resistance to their influence. This mixture of manipulation will likely worsen tribal polarization as influence over local leaders in the Homs area will likely normalize sectarian violence,  creating a generational pipeline for ISIS recruits.                                                      

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[1] Cyber Bullying, generated by a third party image database

[2] Violent Extremist Network “764” Member Facing Federal Indictment for Sexual Exploitation, Coercion and Enticement of Minors, Cyberstalking, US Attorney's Office District of Maryland , November 2025, https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/violent-extremist-network-764-me,mber-facing-federal-indictment-sexual-exploitation 

[3] Sectarian tensions flare in Syria’s Homs after the killing of a Bedouinouple, AP, November 2025, https://apnews.com/article/syria-homs-sectarian-tensions-f3e920ced4cde90f15552b768d720e7d