Gardaí take part in EU-wide counter-extremism operation 

The operation, co-ordinated by Europol, the EU police agency, involved agencies from 16 member states, including Ireland. Picture: Thomas Fuller/SOPA/LightRocket/Getty

Gardaí have taken part in an EU-wide operation targeting social media and gaming platforms promoting terrorism or anarchist violent extremism.

The operation, co-ordinated by Europol, the EU police agency, involved agencies from 16 member states, including Ireland.

The ‘Action Day’ was run by Europol’s Internet Referral Unit (IRU) and authorities from Spain.

A statement issued by Europol said: “Investigators referred over 9,000 links to content promoting jihadist, right-wing, left-wing, and anarchist violent extremism and terrorism.” 

It said the material was spread across 47 social media and gaming platforms.

Europol said it targeted content produced and shared by individuals, groups, networks, and organisations by “online role-playing” to promote violent extremist and terrorist narratives.

It said gaming platforms are being used to spread propaganda and recruit young people into extremism: “Within video game environments, these communities recreate the structures, narratives, and symbols of terrorist organisations, as well as terrorist attacks. 

"Activities can include role-playing as members of terrorist groups and recreating events involving them.” 

It said these activities can develop into co-ordinated efforts to produce and disseminate propaganda and recruit new members, including young people and minors.

“By embedding terrorist or violent extremist ideologies in interactive gaming experiences, these communities contribute to radicalisation,” it said.

Europol said that identifying and referring such content is “crucial” in the efforts to disrupt the spread of terrorist and violent extremist propaganda and prevent its use for recruitment and implementation of violent acts.

It is unclear how many referrals were made by gardaí in the operation. It is understood that members of the Garda Security & Intelligence section were involved in the day of action.

Exploitation of gaming environments

Europol’s IRU co-ordinated the action day, bringing together specialised units to identify and refer violent extremist and terrorist content to the platforms hosting it.

The statement said the action reflects the EU's broader efforts to address the exploitation of online gaming environments for terrorist and violent extremist purposes.

It said this emerging threat was highlighted in Europol's Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2026 and the European Commission's Internal Security Strategy.

The IRU is part of the agency’s Counter Terrorism Centre and assists member states in getting online service providers to take down terrorist-linked or extremism-linked sites.

It operates a central system to facilitate the transmission of removal orders and referrals.

The unit also provides relevant authorities in EU countries with situation reports, early warning notifications, and intelligence briefings.

• Cormac O’Keeffe, Security Correspondent.