The role of Community ‘Com’ Networks in online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation, 26 January 2027
Workshop provides a contemporary insight into the key issues and trends around the role of Community or ‘Com’ Networks in the facilitation of Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation.
Community ‘Com’ Networks (such as the 764 network) are transnational, decentralised online groups where child sexual abuse material (CSAM), severe extortion, cybercrime, and extreme violence are weaponised as social currency.
Predominantly active on mainstream platforms (like Roblox, TikTok, and Reddit) before migrating to encrypted chat applications (like Discord and Telegram), these groups represent a dangerous ‘hybridisation of harms,’
Within Com networks, child exploitation is not just driven by traditional sexual motivation, but is used as a mechanism for group belonging, control, and achieving status or notoriety.
Challenge for Law Enforcement
The workshop will look at the challenges for law enforcement in identifying and dismantling Com Networks. This is because they operate as a fluid internet native subculture with the traditional struggle of other criminal organisations which make them difficult for law enforcement to dismantle.
If a specific group chat or server is banned on Discord or Telegram, the decentralised members quickly fragment, migrate, and establish new, overlapping ‘cells’ under different names.
We’ll also consider how Com Networks don’t operate solely within the domain of child exploitation, they are also involved in other criminal activity including cyber tactics such as doxing, swatting and ransomware to terrify and isolate targets.
The abuse is also linked to extreme misogyny, racism, animal cruelty and far right extremism. We will also look at the overlap with sadism and self-harm coercion.
Outline of the day
Session One: an introduction to Com Networks, the current threat and the prevalence of these groups.
Session Two: an overview of the criminality Com Networks are involved in, their tactics and the key challenges for investigators in identifying and disrupting their activity,
Session Three: future challenges, opportunities for investigators to prevent and disrupt Com Networks.
Our expert
The workshop will be led by Dr Bethany Jennings who is the Research Manager at We Protect Global Alliance and has worked extensively in the areas of child protection, homelessness, sexual violence and exploitation, holistic services and participation, both as a social worker and researcher.
Before joining We Protect Global Alliance, she worked for ‘Children In All Policies 2030’, based at University College London, advocating for children’s health and wellbeing to be centred in all policies through science, advocacy, and coalition building.
Who should attend?
This workshop is aimed at operational investigators and analysts working in an online CSAE role who want to develop and enhance their understanding of this growing area.
• Held online via Teams
• Certificates of CPD available
HOW TO BOOK
Cost: £215 + VAT (GBP) per delegate per workshop (LEA and Government Agency rate). £275 + VAT (Industry rate), per delegate
Group bookings: We offer various discounts for group bookings depending on numbers, please contact us for details.
Booking: Please send the delegates name(s), email address(es) and purchase order (made out to The Investigator) to booking@the-investigator.co.uk or telephone +44(0)844 660 8707 for further information.
Payment can be made by PayPal/debit/credit card. The meeting link will be sent out 7 days before the event.