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Nihilistic Violent Extremism (NVE): Roblox, Discord & 764
by Brian J. Kelly, Director - Spotlight Division
Brian Kelly was the first U.S. Probation Officer to officially hold the title of Cybercrime Specialist in the federal Judiciary. Appointed to the position in October 2000, Brian formulated the Eastern District of New York Probation Office Cybercrime policies and procedures, which included the creation of the district’s Computer & Internet Management/Monitoring Program. Brian was also a member of the national Cybercrime Working Group (AOUSC), tasked with formulating national policy and training in the area of Cybercrime for the federal Judiciary.
On March 12, 2025, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida filed a Sentencing Memorandum relating to a criminal defendant awaiting sentencing on charges of possession of child pornography. The memorandum is believed to be one of the first court filings to contain a new law enforcement classification, specifically, "nihilistic violent extremism" (NVE). The defendant was described as an active member of a NVE group called "764". The 764 group has been covered in numerous investigative news articles (links below) and is described as a clandestine online network with beliefs rooted in extremist ideologies like Satanism and neo-Nazism. 764 is known to have exploited platforms such as Roblox, Discord, and Telegram to target and manipulate children. The information below about NVE is directly quoted from the Middle District of Florida Sentencing Memorandum. The defendant's name has been redacted:
Nihilistic Violent Extremists
Nihilistic Violent Extremists (NVEs) are individuals who engage in criminal conduct within the United States and abroad, in furtherance of political, social, or religious goals that derive primarily from a hatred of society at large and a desire to bring about its collapse by sowing indiscriminate chaos, destruction, and social instability. NVEs work individually or as part of a network with these goals of destroying civilized society through the corruption and exploitation of vulnerable populations, which often include minors.
NVEs, both individually and as a network, systematically and methodically target vulnerable populations across the United States and the globe. NVEs frequently use social media communication platforms to connect with individuals and desensitize them to violence by, among other things, breaking down societal norms regarding engaging in violence, normalizing the possession, production, and sharing of CSAM and gore material, and otherwise corrupting and grooming those individuals towards committing future acts of violence.
Those individuals are targeted online, often through synchronized group chats. NVEs frequently conduct coordinated extortions of individuals by blackmailing them so they comply with the demands of the network. These demands vary and include, but are not limited to, self-mutilation, online and in-person sexual acts, harm to animals, sexual exploitation of siblings and others, acts of violence, threats of violence, suicide, and murder.
Historically, NVEs systematically targeted vulnerable individuals by grooming, extorting, coercing, and otherwise compelling through force, or the threat of force, the victims to mutilate themselves or do violence, or threaten violence, to others and either film or photograph such activity. The members of the network have edited compilation photographs or videos of targeted individuals, shared the photographs and videos on social media platforms for several reasons, including to gain notoriety amongst members of the network, and spread fear among those targeted individuals for the purpose of accelerating the downfall of society and otherwise achieving the goals of the NVEs.
NVEs networks have adopted various monikers to identify themselves. The networks have changed names over time, which has led to the creation of related networks. Although the networks change names and use a variety of different social media platforms, the core members and goals remain consistent and align with the overarching threat of NVE.
764 and related networks
“764” and related groups (“764”) are NVEs who engage in criminal conduct within the United States and engage with other extremists abroad. The 764 network’s accelerationist goals include social unrest and the downfall of the current world order, including the United States Government. Members of 764 work in concert with one another towards a common purpose of destroying civilized society through the corruption and exploitation of vulnerable populations, including minors.
<the defendant's> 764 Involvement
<the defendant's> involvement with 764 was housed on his thumb drive, which law enforcement forensically searched. During that search, law enforcement observed that, <the defendant> organized his obscene collection into folders by categories such as, “764”, “child-gore”, “kkk-racist”, “self harm”, “rape”, and “trophies,” as some examples. Within each folder were images and videos self-explanatory to the folder title. Of note, the “trophies” folder contained girls who had written or carved <the defendant's> 764 name or variations of it on their bodies. <the defendant> actively participated in the grooming of young girls and encouraged and succeeded in causing young girls to write or carve his name on themselves. Additionally, this defendant, by his own admission, when he was a
juvenile, shared images and videos of 764 content as well as CSAM.
Although <the defendant> denied involvement in 764 after his 18th birthday, forensic evidence demonstrated he entered 764 social media chat groups after his 18th birthday. The PSR documents the defendant’s history and characteristics, including his parents’ divorce and that his father was verbally and mentally abuse. Without diminishing the defendant’s childhood trauma, the PSR notes <the defendant> still loves his father, and both his parents have been very supportive through these charges. There is nothing so unique, however, about the defendant’s history or upbringing to explain these charges other than his interest in furthering the objectives of 764.
Despite his age, <the defendant's> actions are such that he presents a danger to the community. His focus on particularly horrific child rape videos, and the humiliation and victimization of the most vulnerable in our society, underscores this fact. Further, 764 actors like <the defendant> weaponize the most horrific CSAM material and use it to desensitize others to groom them for further violence. This is evidenced by the images <the defendant> procured of girls with his social media handle drawn or carved into their bodies.
As described in my November 2023 article "Monitoring Terror", IPPC Technologies' Spotlight service will validate events and provide reporting to agencies when suspected terrorism/extremist activities are identified. This includes if the person under supervision is viewing news reports or related content on terrorist/extremist organizations that could result in radicalization or trigger other concerns. Canned language used by Spotlight in validated events includes:
- FTO/Extremist Group-News: (potential concerns: radicalization)
- Racially/Ethnically Motivated Extremism
- Anti-Government/Anti-Authority Extremism
- Animal Rights/Environmental Extremism
Abortion-Related Extremism
Nihilistic Violent Extremism (NVE) has been approved and added for use by Spotlight validations. The parameters for validation using this language are when the content indicates ideological agenda supporting criminal conduct in furtherance of political, social, or religious goals that derive primarily from a hatred of society at large and a desire to bring about its collapse by sowing indiscriminate chaos, destruction, and social instability.
News Article links: 764 network/group
Wired: https://www.wired.com/story/764-com-child-predator-network/
Officers can improve the relevance of information received from Spotlight by entering the following information in the Case Details section of each case in the Next Gen interface:
- Offense: arrest/conviction and prior criminal conduct
- Preference: age, gender, details
- Contact with Minors Restriction (YES/NO)
- Organization Affiliation
- Current Areas of Concern
Officers can access and edit Case Details by logging into the IPPC NextGen interface and clicking on the appropriate Case Number.
If a custom RISK word is added to case settings in Next Gen, such as a victim name, officers can add tags to identify those custom RISK words for the Spotlight team. After adding the custom word, click Add Tag and several checkboxes will appear for selection. The current options are:
- Victim
- Officer
- Co-Defendant
- Treatment Provider
- Law Enforcement
- Judicial Representative
- Criminal Associate
Multiple tags can be selected. Please be sure to save settings before exiting.
IPPC Technologies continues to strive towards predictive and proactive solutions so officers can intervene early, address areas of concern and change behavior. Spotlight is a data analysis service provided by IPPC Technologies that uses human verification augmented with artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to validate content captured and flagged by IPPC’s monitoring and analysis solutions. Spotlight’s mission is to provide agencies and officers with streamlined and verified leads, for possible intervention opportunities related to concerning behaviors. For more information on Spotlight, please call IPPC at (888)-WEB-IPPC or contact me directly at bkelly@ippctech.net or by calling (516)341-4201.
Agencies receiving the Spotlight service can give feedback any time via the Spotlight Performance Survey: https://forms.office.com/r/K9JpsNjKH
