764: The Network I Wish I'd Heard Of Sooner
I've spent years talking about online harm in training rooms. Sextortion, CSE, CCE, the usual vocabulary of safeguarding. I thought I had a reasonable handle on the landscape.
Then I came across 764.
If you haven't heard of it either, you're not alone, and that's part of the problem. 764 is a decentralised online network that emerged in 2021. Before I begin let me explain what decentralised means, it means no set headquarters, no leader, instead of one group you could shut down by arresting a leader or taking down a website, it operates as a loose web of smaller groups and individuals, connected mainly through chat servers and messaging platforms, that can splinter, rename, or reform elsewhere if one part gets disrupted.
That's part of why it's proven so hard to shut down, and why awareness matters more than usual here. You can't rely on a takedown notice or an arrest to make this go away. You rely on people noticing and education.
Now what it is?
It's now linked to some of the most serious harm I've encountered in this line of work: coercing children into producing abuse material, pressuring victims into self-harm and cruelty to animals, and drawing on extremist and satanic imagery as part of its culture. It has been reported to even encourage suicide.
It operates through gaming platforms and messaging apps, the same ones young people use every single day without a second thought. In a statement for a programme called ‘The Com’, (can be found on NOW TV) Roblox refers to them as an extremist group.
The harm is shocking, the control worrying, the outcomes are catastrophic in many ways, but my biggest worry is how little visibility this has, even among people whose job it is to know.
What this means for those of us working with children
I don't think the answer is panic, and it's definitely not searching this out yourself to "understand the threat better." That's not our job, and it can do more harm than good. What I do think matters is building this into the wider conversation we already have about online safety, rather than treating it as a footnote. Listening out to what our young people are speaking about.
A few things to be aware of
Sudden secrecy about a device, app, or online contact is worth gentle curiosity, not confrontation.
Distress connected to being online anxiety, withdrawal, a shift in mood after screen time deserves a conversation, even if it feels like nothing.
Unexplained injuries or talk of self-harm should never be dismissed as attention-seeking or a phase.
A new online relationship a young person is reluctant to discuss is a pattern worth paying attention to, not policing.
If something doesn't sit right, report it to CEOP via the National Crime Agency, or to local police. You don't need certainty to raise a concern. You need a reasonable worry and the willingness to act on it.
Why I'm writing this
I run training on online harms, and I'll be building 764 into that content in more depth. But some things feel too urgent to wait for a course booking. If you work in education, safeguarding, or you simply have children in your life, ten minutes reading about this properly is ten minutes well spent.
For a fuller picture of how the network operates, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue has published a detailed explainer aimed at professionals working with children
Awareness is not the whole solution. But it's the part none of us can skip.
