The Com URL removals hit 4,340 in Europol-led crackdown

Europol and partner agencies flagged 4,340 URLs linked to The Com for removal during a multiweek June and July operation, targeting online material used by the loosely connected network to recruit, groom and promote criminal activity. The Com URL removals are part of Project Compass, a law-enforcement effort that began in 2025 and spans agencies in the US, UK and EU member states.

Europol said the referral push was designed to disrupt The Com’s online ecosystem and slow the spread of its propaganda. Investigators from Belgium, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden took part in the Referral Action Days.

The operation is relevant to technology operators because Europol says The Com-linked groups use social media, gaming platforms and messaging apps to find members and reach vulnerable young people. Europol did not name the platforms involved, and it said the URLs were flagged for removal rather than specifying how many were ultimately taken down.

What is The Com?

The Com, short for community, is Europol’s term for a loose network of online groups whose young members are tied to cybercrime and offline violence. Europol says activity connected to the network includes hacking, swatting, digital extortion, shootings, stabbings and other attacks.

According to Europol, status inside these groups can rise with the severity of content a user produces or coerces from victims. The agency said some acts are livestreamed on social platforms, watched by online audiences and then stored and redistributed.

What Europol says investigators found

Europol said the flagged URLs included violent videos and images involving self-harm, suicide, child sexual abuse material, animal cruelty and physical attacks. The agency also cited content connected to so-called blood walls, described as images made with blood that show an extorter’s alias and group affiliation, and cut-signs, where victims are forced to carve an extorter’s name into their bodies.

The material also included videos of street attacks and arson, according to Europol. Investigators also found manuals for committing violent acts, along with instructions related to grooming and extorting vulnerable minors, doxxing and swatting.

Europol’s European Counter Terrorism Centre has received hundreds of requests over the past two years from member states and other partners seeking support on investigations tied to The Com, the agency said. Europol described the network as a global threat, with minors appearing both as victims and perpetrators.

US and UK agencies have issued similar warnings

The latest European action follows earlier warnings from US and UK authorities about a subset of The Com. Last year, agencies in both countries warned that some groups were recruiting children and teenagers for contract shootings, kidnappings and other physical crimes.

In July 2025, the FBI said In Real Life Com, or IRL Com, had become more aggressive in soliciting swatting-for-hire and violence-as-a-service activity. The FBI alert followed a notice from the UK National Crime Agency, which warned of a deeply concerning pattern in which The Com recruited teenage boys for crimes ranging from cyber fraud and ransomware to child sexual abuse.

For platforms, the law-enforcement message is direct: the same services used for gaming, messaging and social distribution are also being used by The Com-linked groups to recruit and preserve evidence of abuse. Europol’s disclosure gives a scale for the latest referral action, but leaves open the harder operational question for platforms and police: how much of this material remains accessible after it is flagged.

This story draws on original reporting from The Register.