Youth at the Crosshairs: Europe’s Teen Terror Surge

In recent months, European authorities have arrested dozens of adolescents, some aged just 14, for conspiring attacks on concerts, train stations, and houses of worship, with high-profile plots like the Vienna Taylor Swift cancellation highlighting the scope of the crisis.

Online platforms, from TikTok to encrypted Signal channels, amplify extremist content, mixing Islamist and far-right ideologies, and AI-driven algorithms have slashed radicalization timelines from over a year to mere weeks.

The Gaza war and social grievances fuel teen anger, while Europol reports a four-fold surge in terror incidents between 2022 and 2023, underlining how youth engagement now makes up two-thirds of recent Islamist arrests and a growing share of far-right cases.