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- [00:00]
Courtney Armstrong
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:05]
Guardian Bike Advertiser
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- [01:07]
Courtney Armstrong
What kind of man would let this happen to his family?
- [01:11]
Murdoch Death in the Family Promoter
Inspired by shocking actual events, I'm working.
- [01:14]
Courtney Armstrong
On a story about the Murdochs.
- [01:16]
Cindy Crawford
Their abuses of power are playing out in real time.
- [01:19]
Murdoch Death in the Family Promoter
Starring Academy Award winner Patricia Arquette and Jason Clark.
- [01:23]
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It's only cheating if you get caught.
- [01:27]
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- [02:06]
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- [02:36]
Courtney Armstrong
From the dark corners of the web, an emerging mindset.
- [02:40]
Guardian Bike Advertiser
I am a loser.
- [02:41]
David Ryan
If I was a woman, I wouldn't date me either.
- [02:43]
Courtney Armstrong
A hidden world of resentment, cynicism, anger against women at a deadly tipping point.
- [02:49]
Guardian Bike Advertiser
Incels will be added to the terrorism guide.
- [02:52]
David Ryan
I see literally zero hope.
- [02:55]
Courtney Armstrong
This is Incels, a production of KT Studios and iHeartRadio. Season one, episode seven, the 764 Network.
- [03:09]
David Ryan
Certainly when you live stream your attack.
- [03:12]
You'Re making yourself easier to catch. So they care more about getting the message out there than they do about getting a layer.
- [03:20]
Courtney Armstrong
The judge described Bennington's messages to his victims as repeated, cruel and sadistic.
- [03:28]
David Ryan
I'll read you one more quote. Women have a fantasy of being stalked, raped, held hostage, murdered. They wish they were victims.
- [03:37]
Courtney Armstrong
I'm Courtney Armstrong, a producer at KT Studios with Stephanie Lydecker, Gabriel Castillo, Connor Powell and Carolyn Miller. Trigger Warning we're going to hear about a nihilist group called 764. The FBI classifies this group as a high level threat and there are graphic descriptors of child exploitation. This episode takes a deep dive inside the U.S. attorney's office, David Ryan speaks with unique authority as someone who's been in the trenches working with victims on cases. A former chief of the National Security Division at the United States Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, David offers an inside look at how these crimes are investigated and prosecuted.
- [04:23]
David Ryan
At the United States Attorney's Office here in Los Angeles, we have a National Security division and I was the chief of that National Security Division and we investigate and prosecute cases that involve domestic or international terrorism. We also investigate and prosecute cyber intrusions, cyber hacking, cyber stalking.
- [04:42]
Courtney Armstrong
You mentioned an increase in online threats and in cyber stalking in the past 10 years or so. What did that look like in your world of your job and are there any sort of theories on the increase?
- [04:54]
David Ryan
Yes, Starting in around 2015, over the past 10 years, there has been an increase in these cases.
- [05:01]
There are a couple of different aspects to that. One is the increase in threats involving anti government, anti authority, violent extremism. We saw the rise of threats and stalking and swatting schemes committed by people engaged in other ideologies, whether that's one of these gender based violent ideologies like incel or other ideologies. So I think as more and more of the world moved online and into social media, we Saw that coincide with just a rise in that sort of criminal threatening activity.
- [05:38]
Courtney Armstrong
Do you think globally people are becoming more prone to being radicalized because they're hearing so much more of the same content?
- [05:47]
David Ryan
We have had several cases where individuals were radicalized online, whether on forums like Discord or Gab or 4chan, where they were exposed to increasingly extremist ideas and ideologies. Maybe it starts as exploring what they would call edgy or extreme or gore content that's more in a fantasy context or a joking context, and then over time, it moves more and more towards reality for them.
- [06:19]
Courtney Armstrong
How do you determine the difference between I'm a 14 year old joking with my buds and I'm at threat? How does that even be determined?
- [06:29]
David Ryan
Certainly there is a line between first amendment protected activity and criminal activity. Law enforcement gets involved when somebody crosses that line and starts directly threatening or harassing or stalking or victimizing somebody. Now there's a separate set of facts where a person may be discussing a crime that they seek to commit. In the future, we and the FBI would aggressively start to look into that to determine whether they've crossed the line from thinking about committing an attack to actually attempting to do so. In the law, a person can be prosecuted for attempting to carry out an attack like that if they take some substantial step towards committing it. So a challenge in this area is, you know, if someone engages in, you know, discussion of what they would like to do and fantasizes online about committing a shooting at a school, for example, you know, that alone is not a criminal act. But when they start taking steps to carry it out, that's when law enforcement can step in.
- [07:30]
Courtney Armstrong
Got it. That seems like it's a scary small window.
- [07:34]
David Ryan
One thing that the FBI has been public about, one thing that we have seen, is that the window of time between what we would call the radicalization to mobilization has been shrinking over the last several years. So the time between when someone becomes radicalized and starts expressing that they want to carry out violence, between that point and when they actually mobilize to carry out the violence, that period of time has been shrinking. So we used to see, if you look at successful attackers, the time between when they started talking about when they did it would be maybe a period of months. Now you're seeing that time shrink to less than that, maybe weeks or days, which again, just lessens the time for law enforcement, for members of the community to see that activity and put law enforcement in position to stop it.
- [08:17]
Courtney Armstrong
I asked David why he thought that trolling, deliberately posting provocative messages with the goal of upsetting someone is so prevalent in general within incel groups.
- [08:28]
David Ryan
If you go to the more extreme version of the ideology, the ideology does hold that through the development of feminism, women have gained too much agency and power in the so called sexual marketplace. And the right, quote unquote way would instead be that men should control that marketplace. And so I think a lot of the, again, the social currency that you can gain within that community is from speaking that into existence. This is how we would talk if we ran the world, we should run the world.
- [08:59]
Courtney Armstrong
The center for Countering Digital Hate reported that posts mentioning rape were on major incel forums every 29 minutes and that 89% of posts in relevant discussion boards supported sexual violence against women. I asked David his thoughts.
- [09:17]
David Ryan
A more extreme version of the ideology would sanction and seek to legalize rape sexual assault. The more extreme version of the ideology valorizes prior members who have committed mass shootings of women or at sororities or at nail salons. So, you know, in that context, it's not surprising that within that community they would valorize or joke about or discuss, you know, in a positive way, committing violence, sexual violence or otherwise, against her.
- [09:48]
Courtney Armstrong
David Ryan breaks down one disturbing case. An incel in his 30s named Carl Bennington who targeted and cyberstalked multiple teenage girls he met online. He threatened violence and even death if they refused his demands for sex. David explains the case.
- [10:08]
David Ryan
So Mr. Bennington had been messaging several teenage girls repeatedly and aggressively for several years. And then certain of those victims reached out to law enforcement and we began investigating him out of our office for at least four years. What we learned was that Mr. Bennington had become increasingly consumed by incel ideology and he began to act out that ideology towards these individual victims. The evidence that we obtained was that he had gone from seeking relationships with these children, you know, teenage girls, to when they rejected him, demanding that they have a sexual relationship with him, and then when they rejected him again, ultimately turning to threatening graphically to commit acts of violence and sexual assault against them and their families.
- [11:02]
Courtney Armstrong
I asked how Bennington, in his 30s at the time, first encountered these underage girls.
- [11:09]
David Ryan
This is not a group like there are some others where they, they primarily congregate in invite only chat groups where victims are lured to incels often reach their victims, as he did, just by reaching out on traditional social media platforms. And initially they reach out in potentially a friendly way because they're interested in trying to develop a relationship. And when things turn south is when the girl or woman declines. And then they become increasingly aggressive. It can become a federal case as well when threats are communicated over the Internet and when stalking is called cyber stalking, when you stalk someone online through repeated and harassing Internet messaging.
- [11:54]
Courtney Armstrong
The indictment contains specific writing Bennington posted as well as messages he sent directly to the underage girls. David Ryan reads some of the posts so you can understand the level of violence and even death threats these girls were facing.
- [12:10]
David Ryan
There are a few messages that really highlight what his ideology was, and I'll read you those as well. Bennington was, he was what you may call in the incel community blue or maybe red pilled, which is that he was focused on what he would call alpha male ideology. He was focused on the notion that women desired men who are dominating and almost, you know, a caricature of what he would call, quote, unquote, alpha male. Shortly before some of the worst threats in this case, he wrote online, quote, women's narcissism has been getting out of hand. They need to be put back in their fucking place, women. Shortly after that, he wrote, feminists are a man hating group where they want to take away our confidence and turn us into some insecure, emotional douchebag. I'll read you one more quote. Women have a fantasy of being stalked, raped, held hostage, and murdered. They wish they were victims. Then he started writing to the victims, quote, don't fucking squirm or you'll get slapped around. I own you now and you're going to do as I say because I'm fucking God. And he sent that along with a picture of a woman with her hands tied. So hatred of feminism and a belief that the, quote, alpha male was the ideal to strive for. This is him flirting in his worldview and going between flirting and then being angry that it's not working.
- [13:37]
Courtney Armstrong
I asked how this illegal, offensive and violent language could be misconstrued as flirting by anyone.
- [13:46]
David Ryan
There's that spectrum where they haven't, quote, unquote, you know, given up on trying to adopt this caricature of masculinity. They're playing out the view that this is, you know, what, what should work, that this sort of hyper aggressive, persistent pursuit is actually what should work. And there's teaching within the, you know, so called manosphere along those lines. I think there's also a view that men are entitled to the woman that they want. In one of his direct messages, he, he wrote, I'm outside your window watching you. You better be on the lookout if you know what's good for you. Only God can save you, slut. Dog, boar. Bark for me, you little slut. Based on the training they've received and based on their worldview, they are entitled to success and they believe they should be having success. And the fact that they're instead experiencing rejection leads to anger.
- [14:43]
Courtney Armstrong
Outside of these horrifying messages, we asked if Bennington showed any kind of pattern or warning signs beyond the cyber stalking itself, anything that suggested he might escalate to physical violence.
- [14:57]
David Ryan
First of all, these threats already provoke terror and fear to the victims and their families. And he and others have been and will continue to be properly prosecuted for the damage they're causing through their online cyber stalking and threats. With respect to going from online threats to physical violence, yes, it's concerning when he demonstrated that he knew where these victims lived and that he had the ability to go to their houses, when he began talking to them about being outside of their house or being outside of their bedroom, regardless of whether he was or wasn't, that indicates that in his mind that's where he was going towards. And then other things that we in law enforcement would look at are things like an individual's access to weapons, ability to travel, criminal history, prior acts of violence and other indicators. And then finally, depending on the level of insight we have into an individual often incels who carry out mass casualty attacks do post or something like a manifesto, either publicly or share with friends. Tragically, we often learn about that only shortly before or after they carry out an attack.
- [16:14]
Courtney Armstrong
There does seem like there is a proliferation of people posting manifestos or publicly sharing this information. Any thoughts on why people are publicly saying now I am planning on doing this or I just did this?
- [16:31]
David Ryan
Yeah, I mean that's been something that's been consistent for a long time in ideologically motivated violence. And these individuals are clear that they are committing an attack with the goal of both putting their view out there to inspire others who are like minded to follow their lead and trying to expose the broader community to their worldview, which they would like other people to understand, if not adopt. And in the incel context as well as others, you know, they've been somewhat successful at that, where every successive attacker cites a prior attacker as a part of their inspiration. Which raises an interesting challenge for the community for more broadly of how to cover and talk about these attacks. Because the communities of people who are who are like minded certainly valorize and draw inspiration from the amount of attention that they receive.
- [17:24]
Courtney Armstrong
It seems like bad guys used to want to hide their crimes versus livestream them or leave evidence publicly all over social media.
- [17:32]
David Ryan
Certainly when you live stream your attack.
- [17:35]
You'Re making yourself easier to catch. So the inference I think is fair that they care more about getting the message out there than they do about getting a layer. Certainly the public messaging in the attempt to create a certain media narrative is central to their motivation.
- [17:52]
But in a case where we are looking into someone before they've committed a physical attack, if we see anything indicating their hope or desire to become a martyr or what they would say, an incel to go, er, meaning to follow in the footsteps of Elliot Roger, you know, that would be a reference to committing an attack and that would heighten the concern.
- [18:14]
Courtney Armstrong
Let's stop here for a break. We'll be back in a moment.
- [18:29]
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- [19:32]
Courtney Armstrong
Let this happen to his family?
- [19:36]
Murdoch Death in the Family Promoter
Inspired by shocking actual events, I'm working.
- [19:38]
Courtney Armstrong
On the story about the Murdochs.
- [19:40]
Cindy Crawford
Their abuses of power are playing out in real time.
- [19:43]
Murdoch Death in the Family Promoter
Starring Academy Award winner Patricia Arquette and Jason Clark.
- [19:47]
Guardian Bike Advertiser
It's only cheating if you get caught.
- [19:51]
Murdoch Death in the Family Promoter
Hulu Original Series Murdoch Death in the Family New episodes Wednesdays on Hulu and Hulu on Disney for bundle subscribers. Terms apply.
- [20:00]
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- [20:33]
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- [21:15]
Courtney Armstrong
David Ryan explained that in the Bennington case, investigators learned he had access to weapons and transportation. He owned a car, had some money, and knew where his victims lived, David continues.
- [21:29]
David Ryan
He did not have all of the indicators, so he did not seem to idolize Elliot Roger. At one point he wrote actually that that Roger was weak for having turned to violence rather than bettering himself and following the quote unquote, you know, alpha rules that he was trying to follow. And that again is consistent with the sort of the divide or the range within the incel community of someone who's not yet black pilled would say you don't need to resort to mass violence or the destruction of society. You can follow these rules or follow these systems to better yourself. And those are twisted rules and twisted systems like what he was shown.
- [22:10]
Courtney Armstrong
The judge described Bennington's messages to his victims as repeated, cruel and sadistic. Ultimately, the case never went to trial. Bennington pleaded guilty to two counts of cyber stalking. David Ryan explained that one of the primary purposes of sentencing is to protect the public from future crimes by the defendant. In this case, Bennington served 18 months in prison. His sentence also included three years of residential mental health treatment, a no contact order with his victims, as well as search conditions. Allowing law enforcement to monitor his home and devices, David explained, explains what role he believes social media companies should play in assisting law enforcement.
- [22:56]
David Ryan
It is a federal crime to write threatening messages, to send threats to individuals on social media platforms. It's a federal crime to stalk, harass, or intimidate someone online. So these messages that he was sending were criminal acts, just as sending illicit child pornography or other contraband through these social media platforms would be a crime that would be prohibited on these sites. So I think it's perfectly appropriate that these sites have policies and algorithms in place to ensure that people are not using them to commit federal crimes. In this case, a challenge is his accounts were deleted and he made new ones. But that's certainly better than no action being taken. It is very difficult and can be traumatizing, and it's something for, I think, parents to be aware of as well.
- [23:52]
Courtney Armstrong
David updated us on the victims in this case and on the impact of their courage in coming forward.
- [23:59]
David Ryan
It was a very positive thing for the victims in this case to have the prosecution go forward and to have this defendant not only incapacitated for a couple of years, but then receive a significant amount of mental health treatment so that they can move on with their lives. And I'm sure it was scary for them to come forward because people, first of all, maybe don't want to come forward and involve themselves with law enforcement or maybe worried that they will further provoke this person who is unstable and acting violently toward them. They also likely saved countless other girls and women from having to experience similar or worse harm from this defendant. And so I think it's. It's not just a brave thing they did, but a heroic thing that they did to come forward and get this case done.
- [24:44]
Courtney Armstrong
Is there anything that you would say to a parent if your child or yourself are being victimized, or if you think someone in your life, your son, your nephew, is going down this path?
- [24:56]
David Ryan
Well, I think if someone's experiencing this activity targeted at them or their friend or family member, think one lesson is to understand that it may not just go away on its own and that it can escalate if they feel rejection. And so if someone does receive sort of messages that start to cross the line and suggest a threatening or obsessive infatuation that makes them feel uncomfortable or nervous, that they should reach out to the local police department, or they can reach out to the FBI. But if they feel that they're in any sort of danger, the first step is always to reach out to the local police department.
- [25:36]
Federal criminal prosecutions are made every day based on law enforcement and prosecutors identifying who's behind the keyboard. So people who think they can hide behind the keyboard and commit crimes and victimize people online, you know that that is not the case. And so for those who are experiencing that as victims, rest assured, if you do reach out to law enforcement, we may be able to come in and help. And as a prosecutor, our primary goal is to disrupt criminal activity before new victims are created. And we can't always do that, but when we are able to, it is often because someone in the life of that person, either the offender or a victim came forward to law enforcement and said, hey, something is not right here and I just can't encourage the public and parents and friends of children who are experiencing this sort of conduct can't encourage them strongly enough to make that outreach if something doesn't seem quite right.
- [26:37]
Courtney Armstrong
In speaking with David Ryan, the conversation turned to something none of us had heard of before. The 764 group. The FBI's child exploitation operational Unit chief Abigail Boccaccio has said people are not understanding the severity, the speed at which their children can become victimized. These are offenders that have the ability to change your child's life in a matter of minutes. We've said this before but want to be absolutely clear. We are not suggesting that all incels are violent, nor are we equating the incel community with groups like 764. They are distinct and different. However, when we heard about this newer, highly dangerous online network, it became a matter of public concern. Sharing this information isn't about fear, it's about awareness and prevention. David Ryan explains.
- [27:32]
David Ryan
764 is a more recent threat stream and certain of the cases that I have been involved in are ongoing in the sense that the defendants have not been sentenced. Over the last several years we've seen an increase in criminal activity from what we call the 764 route. That criminal activity has primarily involved what we call sexploitation, meaning the sexual exploitation of children online. The most common way that has played out is members of this group congregate in online forums, typically on discord or other platforms, where they can maintain control over a chat group, where they can invite users, exclude users, and then within the group they can have live video chats, they can stream or send video recordings. And within those groups, the individuals participating in 764Network have essentially helped train each other on how to groom children to provide them with videos and photographs of themselves engaging in sexual activities. Once they have those videos or photographs, the playbook is that the Ms. 764 members will then use those videos and photographs to blackmail the children to provide more by threatening them with exposing the photos and videos that they've already gotten.
- [29:01]
Courtney Armstrong
The network was founded in 2021 by Bradley Chance Cadenhead, a teenager from Stefan, Texas. The name 764 comes from the first three digits of his zip code. Caden had extorted minors, forcing his victims to produce pornographic material, engage in animal cruelty and self harm. His motivations appear to include a desire for status and power, referring to himself as being a God Online. On May 16, 2023, he was sentenced to 80 years in prison. Prison after reviewing evidence, the judge presiding over the case addressed Cadenhead saying there is something horribly wrong with you. Horribly. David Ryan continues.
- [29:47]
David Ryan
A unique piece for this group is they appear to be motivated not only by sexual gratification but also by what we call a nihilistic extremist ideology. Where in their view, their discussions, they talk about wanting to corrupt the youth of society to contribute to the decay and downfall of society. And so they not only demand and threaten their victims to provide sexual content, they also demand other essentially degrading, harmful and violent acts such as they demand that their victims provide videos of cutting the perpetrators names into their bodies with knives, videos of themselves assaulting animals or vomiting.
- [30:34]
They will often engage in essentially a sick and twisted competitive game to see who can get their victims to engage in the most painful and vile acts of self harm. They will have their victims feel compelled.
- [30:46]
To keep providing content because of the blackmail.
- [30:54]
Courtney Armstrong
Let's stop here for another break. Be back in a moment.
- [31:06]
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- [32:08]
Courtney Armstrong
What kind of man would let this happen to his family?
- [32:13]
Murdoch Death in the Family Promoter
Inspired by shocking actual events, I'm working.
- [32:16]
Flav City Advertiser
On a story about the Murdochs.
- [32:18]
Cindy Crawford
Their abuses of power are playing out in real time.
- [32:21]
Murdoch Death in the Family Promoter
Starring Academy Award winner Patricia Arquette and Jason Clark.
- [32:25]
Guardian Bike Advertiser
It's only cheating if you get caught.
- [32:28]
Murdoch Death in the Family Promoter
Hulu Original Series Murdoch Death in the Family New episodes Wednesdays on Hulu and Hulu on Disney for bundle subscribers terms apply.
- [32:38]
Cindy Crawford
Hi, I'm Cindy Crawford and I'm the founder of meaningful beauty. When Dr. Sabah and I decided to do a skincare line together. He said to me, we are going to give women meaningful beauty. And I said, that's exactly right. We want to give women meaningful beauty. Which means each and every product is meaningful. It has a reason to exist. It's efficacious. You're going to get results and then you just go out and live your life. Meaningful beauty confidence is beautiful. Learn more@meaningfulbeauty.com.
- [33:11]
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- [33:53]
Courtney Armstrong
The FBI is currently investigating hundreds of cases related to 764 and its offshoots. All 764 field offices are involved in in some capacity and numerous members and network leaders have been arrested and convicted. The FBI and law enforcement agencies have issued public service announcements to raise awareness of the network and urge parents to be vigilant.
- [34:19]
David Ryan
It is a common feature that the grooming will start with what appears to be a normal online relationship. So the 764 member will love bond the victim, meaning just overwhelm them with sweet complimentary supportive conversation, offer to send them money, buy them phones, buy them digital currency to use in online video games and just be a support online. Develop what appears to be an actual online romantic relationship and then it will all change once they convince the victim to provide the sexual content. The 764 members use the sexually explicit content. Yes to blackmailer victims provide more, but they use it within their community as a form of social currency. They essentially brag to each other, look what I'm able to get. Look what I have. If you look at the public criminal cases that have been filed, certainly very strong trend is that this is a community of male perpetrators perpetrating minor female.
- [35:24]
Courtney Armstrong
David mentioned that children are often the victim of multiple offenders. We asked him to clarify why and the answer is horrifying. You can see how easily this abuse can grow and spread. It starts with the members sharing the videos or photos as currency.
- [35:41]
David Ryan
That allows other members in the community who then gain access to those videos and photos to use them to make contact with the victim, who's who may be in the group chat and say, I'm just as able to expose you as the initial person to whom you sent these videos is. And so now you're beholden to me as well. 764 has traditionally committed these sort of sexual exploitation offenses. We have more recently, however, also seen 764 members engage in physical violence, not through the computer, the physical violence against victims in the community, such as shooting or knife attacks in other countries. There is a concern that the scope of their criminal activities expanding. There is an increased push to aggressively confront, investigate and prosecute those who are leading this group and actively participating in it. So you have seen a surge in cases, federal criminal cases against members of this group. And I would anticipate that federal law enforcement and local law enforcement focus on them will continue.
- [36:47]
Courtney Armstrong
Do you see any overlap, crossover or anything in the Venn diagram between incels and 764?
- [36:56]
David Ryan
One thing that is common between the INCEL group and the 764 group is that they target and victimize children online. They do it in different ways and for different reasons. One thing that's consistent between these groups is they will present to the victim as non threatening original and they will, in different ways and for different reasons and at different times, change from non threatening to threatening and then potentially to violence. But they start as non threat. And so the challenge for children, which is maybe too hard of a challenge for children, so it comes a challenge for parents in the community is to both educate themselves and their children on the risks, the threats that are out there, but also to have appropriate controls and monitoring and relationships between parents and children and friends and teachers and children so that they can intervene before the children are sent off down the wrong path. Think children present attractive victims in the INCEL community for a couple of reasons. One is yes, they are potentially more vulnerable, more susceptible to the tactics. Two, again, on the more extreme side of the incel ideology, they want a relationship of dominance. And children are more susceptible to accepting or being made to accept a dominant figure. I think they find that children, due to maybe emotional vulnerability or immaturity or lack of context and experience, are more willing to embrace that at the outset.
- [38:40]
Courtney Armstrong
Predators prey on vulnerability, often kids who might be lonely or just looking for a connection online. But what starts as attention can very quickly turn into control man, manipulation or blackmail. If you think someone in your life might be in danger, do not wait. David offers some resources and why it's pivotal that we use them.
- [39:04]
David Ryan
For our work, it is critical to identify the victims who are being used to make this content. This is less common with the incel cases, but when we see 764 cases, it is absolutely a primary focus to identify the victims. And a primary focus is to identify the real individual who's being groomed or blackmailed to create this content so that we can go make contact with them and their family and try to get them help and resources so that they can get out of that cycle. And so, from a law enforcement perspective, that's why it's again, just so important that, number one, parents and friends of those who are being victimized come forward as quickly as possible to report it. There is a nonprofit organization called the national center for Missing and Exploited Children that receives on a daily basis tips from social media companies and individuals about child exploitation online and works with law enforcement to report those tips so that we can do further investigation.
- [40:10]
Courtney Armstrong
The phone number for the national center for Missing and exploited children is 1-800-the-lost. It's available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The website for the national center for Missing and exploited children is missingkids.org it provides multiple resources, including one called Take it Down. The purpose of Take it Down is to help remove or stop online sharing of underage, sexually exploitative images or videos. There is no cost. You can remain anonymous and you do not have to send the images to anyone.
- [40:50]
David Ryan
Many, many cases are made through that reporting chain. And so we strongly encourage, again, parents, friends of those who you think may be being victimized in this way, to reach out to either law enforcement, local law enforcement, who can make contact with the FBI, or to the national center for Missing Exploited Children so that we can follow up and try to put an end to that victimization before it gets even more out of control.
- [41:18]
Courtney Armstrong
We asked David Ryan for any final thoughts, something he wanted parents, friends, and anyone listening to remember. His answer is not about fear. It's about action. Reporting matters. Early warning signs save lives. And the sooner someone speaks up, the faster law enforcement can intervene before a threat turns into a tragedy.
- [41:40]
David Ryan
From the standpoint of a prosecutor, these cases are both tragic and a significant call to action for the law enforcement community. Although there has already been a crime, when an incel or a764 member shares content online or threatens someone online, the important work for law enforcement is to be in a position to identify that conduct quickly and disrupt a defendant or an individual who may be on a pathway to physical violence. Because when you look at the mass shootings that Incels have committed. There were often very significant warning signs, public statements or private statements that law enforcement wasn't aware of. And so it's a constant race against time for us to try to identify and stop these people before before they commit tragic mass shootings or acts of mass violence.
- [42:36]
Courtney Armstrong
For more information on the case and relevant photos, follow us on Instagram tstudios. INCELS is produced by Stephanie Lydecker, Gabriel Castillo and me, Courtney Armstrong. Additional producing by Connor Powell and Caroline Miller Editing by Jeff Trois Music by Vanicore Studios. Incels is a production of KT Studios and iHeartRadio. For more podcasts like this, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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This is an iHeart podcast.