Nihilistic online networks groom minors to commit harm. Her son was one of them

toggle caption Joanna Kulesza for NPR

The beginning of ninth grade was already shaping up to be a bumpy transition for then-14-year-old Elliott. His longtime friend group from preschool days had fractured. His parents were separating. And, he was starting high school. With his new smartphone, Elliott increasingly sought community online, in spaces where other users shared his musical interests. And it was there that he eventually fell under the influence of predatory networks that would upend his and his family members' lives.

NPR is not using Elliott's full name because he is still a minor and it remains unclear whether individuals who may have targeted him online continue their activities.

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Dana, Elliott's mother, said that when she gave him his iPhone, she took precautions that she thought would be sensible. She set up parental controls to limit how much time he could spend online; he was not allowed on social media platforms; and he was barred from visiting certain websites. Still, between his smartphone and his school-issued Chromebook, she said Elliott seemed to find ways around every restriction.

Over time, she began to observe disturbing changes to her son's personality.

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"[He was] feeling like a burden … isolating, withdrawing from things that he found pleasurable in the past, talking a lot about … death," she recalled. "And he also started to talk about very violent, gory things."

It wasn't until Elliott was hospitalized, in early 2024, that Dana formed a more complete picture of how strangers online had brought him to the point of extensive self-harm and repetitive thoughts of suicide. She came to understand that bad actors were lurking in the forums where he was looking for community, whereas they were looking for vulnerable victims whom they could manipulate into harmful behaviors for the purpose of winning clout within toxic online networks. And it was finally then that Dana learned about some of these networks, such as 764 and CVLT (pronounced "cult"), which have been linked to random violent attacks, arson, child sexual abuse material, child sexploitation, bomb threats, plots to murder and at least two deaths in the U.S. and abroad.

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"The whole time period that he was into these things online, it was like he was taken hostage and brainwashed," she said.

Now, more than a year after Elliott was hospitalized, Dana finally feels ready to share the story of what her family went through, in the hope that it may help other parents understand some of the dangers that children may encounter online.