Virtual Kitchen Table Conversations with Netmums

21 children under the age of 18 were arrested on terrorism charges from March 2020 to  March 2021 –  the only demographic to show an increase in terrorism related arrests.

This worrying growth has been occurring since 2015, when young people under the age of 24 accounted for less than 20% of extreme right wing terrorism arrests; but in 2020 they accounted for nearly 60%.  Much of this growth has resulted from children being targeted and radicalised by right wing extremists online – including through multi-player online gaming, YouTube and chat forums.

As a result of the pandemic, time spent online grew exponentially,  alongside social isolation and a rise hateful extremism online – a perfect storm for radicialisation, thereby making the Counter Terrorism Policing’s (CTP) challenge even more pressing.

How do you speak to a teenager becoming disillusioned with civil society and at risk of radicalisation when you’re the very authority that underpins that society?  This was a case of influencing the influencer, working through allies as our best way in. And there is no better ally than mum.

Whilst mums are well versed in online harm such as sexual exploitation or cyber-bullying, only 28% of mums know how to spot the signs of radicalization (Source: Netmums x Counter Terrorism survey). We had the tools in our armoury to educate mums, with the Counter-Terrorism Policing’s ‘Act Early’ website and content, launched in 2020. But mothers are naturally protective of their children, and could tune out the message as they denied the possibility of this happening to one of their own.

Chats of this sensitive nature would historically happen over a cuppa around the kitchen table when the kids were out, but it wasn’t realistic when reach was a key goal and the nation was in lockdown. So we took the same sentiment and looked for an intimate virtual space where we could talk exclusively to mums without fear of being overheard. Enter Netmums – a trusted online community reaching over 4 million mums, and the perfect substitute for the kitchen table to encourage discussion with parents already primed and interested in how to keep their children safe online.

Wavemaker, CTP, and Netmums kickstarted the conversation with a 1277 person survey to help CTP and mums understand how much parents knew about their children’s online behaviours and the dangers of radicalisation.

We used data captured through the survey to understand how much mothers know about their children’s online behaviours and the dangers of radicalisation. Survey responses indicated a strong appetite for information, and also highlighted specific concerns and knowledge gaps.

This insight guided content creation and the attitudes and challenges we needed to address through the partnership. This resulted in a co-branded video highlighting key research take outs, 4 native articles, a series of social posts and a week-long takeover of Netmums’s Facebook page. We also sponsored the Netmums’ drop-in clinic where parents could ask a Counter Terrorism Prevent Officer questions directly.

All this was amplified with targeted display across Netmums and the Parenting Plus network and email newsletter features to drive as many mums as possible to this online kitchen table discussion.