Maine schools warning of 'nihilistic violence' at state's urging

Yahoo

06-06-2025

Jun. 6—School districts across Maine are urging families to be vigilant of online groups that allegedly target children and coerce them into committing acts of self-abuse, though no specific threats have been made against Maine schools, officials say.
In letters to families sent this week, superintendents warned of "nihilistic violent extremist" groups, which they say target children from 9 to 17 through social media and online video games. The letters, which came from districts from Brunswick to Portland to Yarmouth, followed a notification by the Cumberland County Emergency Management Agency warning local school districts and community organizations of the groups.
"Cumberland County EMA has received credible information from the FBI and CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) confirming that multiple Nihilistic Violent Extremist (NVE) groups are actively targeting children online," the letter began, though it did not specify whether any schools or students in Maine had been singled out.
The agency was alerted to the groups' existence during a general informational session held about a week ago by the FBI and released "a notice to raise awareness," Director Michael Durkin said on a Friday afternoon phone call.
The FBI has been warning about these and similar groups for months and the program Durkin cited was a routine awareness session not triggered by any single incident, the bureau said.
"We just got this put on our radar," he said. "It's a new term for us."
Durkin deferred questions about the term's origin and definition to the FBI.
Kristen Setera, a spokesperson for the FBI's Boston field office, said the bureau has been "increasingly concerned about a loose network of violent predators" who coerce children into committing sexual or violent behavior on camera. They are motivated by a general desire to sow chaos, she said.
"However, not all participants in these violent online networks are motivated by NVE," she said. "These subjects may be engaging in criminal activity for sexual gratification, social status, a sense of belonging."
Multiple superintendents told the Press Herald they had not heard of any specific threat against Maine schools.
"We've not been told that there are any students in Maine or any of our schools who were targeted," Yarmouth Superintendent Andrew Dolloff said in a phone call Friday afternoon. He indicated the same in his letter to parents.
Dolloff said he was not sure the threats were a wholly new danger or a new angle to long-known online safety threats, but they seemed worth surfacing for parents at the state's urging, Dolloff said.
"They suggested that we should consider notifying parents, community networks, and so forth about this growing threat," Dolloff said. "Just to remind people that we all have to be vigilant."
Copy the Story Link
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less