Halifax youth facing child porn charges related to activity in online extremist group

HALIFAX — Halifax police say a youth is facing several child pornography charges for allegedly being involved in an online extremist group whose members coerce children into harming themselves and engaging in sexual activity on camera.

Chief Don MacLean told reporters Tuesday that all parents should pay attention to this case.

“These groups operate in plain sight through the chat features on very common online social media and gaming apps,” he said. “They connect with victims through the apps and begin grooming them.”

Victims are manipulated into recording, sharing or livestreaming intimate images, acts of self-harm, violence against others, sexual activity, child pornography and animal cruelty, the police chief said.

“We believe the youth we arrested had, over time, communicated with hundreds of young people worldwide.”

RCMP Sgt. Danielle Pollock with the internet child exploitation unit said the youth was an active member of an online group called 764, which is a subgroup of the larger Com Network. What sets this group apart from others involved in online exploitation is that its members aren’t driven mainly by money.

“It works off of notoriety within the Com (Network) itself. That someone was able to get X, Y or Z to do this for me … most of the time it is just for the notoriety, or clout.”

Police began investigating the case in May following a tip from the Canadian National Child Exploitation Crime Centre out of Ottawa. They say the group uses the chat feature on social media and gaming platforms to connect with vulnerable young people, many between the ages of 8 and 18. These platforms include Discord, Minecraft, Roblox, Telegram, Twitch and Steam.

Perpetrators may talk to their victims online over many weeks or months to establish trust and a friendship before manipulating them into performing such acts, Pollock said. That type of coercive behaviour is known as grooming.

Some of these victims are harming their pets, or cutting themselves, the sergeant said. “Parents need to be alive to and watching for cut marks, carvings in their children’s body that are not just straight lines — that are names.”

And she is urging parents to keep a close eye on their children’s internet use. “You can’t stop your kids from being online … But as parents, it is super important that we are alive to where they are, who they are talking to. And not just a quick check,” Pollock said.

She said the Com Network is an international group believed to have started in 2020, adding that while the RCMP does not classify them as a terrorist group, many other countries do.

Dave Boon, Halifax police’s superintendent of the integrated criminal investigation division, declined to say whether there were any Canadian victims of this Halifax youth, citing the ongoing investigation.

Police said they are withholding the age and gender of the youth — which they acknowledge is out of line with their typical practice — because of the seriousness of the criminal group, Halifax police spokesperson Marla MacInnis said.

As 764 and the Com Network operate worldwide, Halifax police are working with a number of partner agencies internationally, MacInnis said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 28, 2025.

Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press