Pupils returning for the new school year in London are to be trained in detecting and resisting the spread of extremism online.
Instruction on how to challenge anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hate is part of a new initiative by Sadiq Khan, mayor of London.
New funding has been made available for a programme that tackles misinformation, prejudice and intolerance in London’s communities and online.
The Shared Endeavour Fund will receive £875,000 ($1.2 million), which will finance projects including workshops run by Tech Against Terrorism. The programme is aimed at helping school pupils detect extremist content online.
Adam Hadley, founder and chief executive of the non-profit online extremism campaign, told The National that a “very large proportion of individuals” who are becoming radicalised into terrorism are young people.
“We've developed a practical and hands-on workshop programme to equip children with the critical reasoning skills to challenge this material if they come across,” he said.
Mr Hadley said this was aimed at secondary school pupils and teachers “who may not realise there’s terrorist material online and are quite shocked”.
“We start with sharing examples of AI-generated content and just trying to open up the minds of children we work with for them to be a bit more critical of what they're seeing online,” he said.
He explained that much of the content is not ideological but nihilistic, aimed at those with a fascination with extreme violence.
The UK’s Prevent counter-radicalisation programme came under the spotlight when it emerged that Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana, who obsessed with extreme violence, was referred to it three times. However, his case was closed due to a lack of a distinct ideology.
“The most worrying trend is of increased violence among children, apparently radicalised online, and not necessarily aligning to a traditional ideology,” he said.
But “there are all sorts of forms of violent extremism and you know huge amount of unpleasant material online”, he added, including far-right and Islamist extremist material.
Mr Hadley said the new workshops that Tech Against Terrorism has designed focus on the use of chatbots, many of which are unsafe and expose children to extremist material.
The organisation recently released a report benchmarking how 27 AI models respond to terrorism and violent-extremist content.
“If you ask how to join ISIS or how to join how to join a neo-Nazi group many of them will say no but a couple of them are really quite reckless,” he said.
This year has seen a series of arson attacks, mostly on Jewish targets, including a synagogue incident where a 17-year-old has pleaded guilty. Another 17-year-old is facing charges relating to an arson attack on a Jewish ambulance service.
There will also be funding for the Stand UP! Education Against Discrimination project to deliver classroom workshops on anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim hate. These will be led jointly by Jewish and Muslim facilitators to promote understanding and challenge prejudice.
Stand UP! is run by the Community Security Trust (CST), which monitors anti‑Semitism and Tell Mama, which does the same for anti-Muslim hate crimes.
The Thoughtful project, which train teachers to help equip young people with the skills to reject hate, intolerance and extremist ideologies, will also receive funding.
Mr Khan pointed to statistics showing the CST recorded a 24 per cent increase in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in London, while Tell Mama has reported more incidents in the first six months of 2026 than in all of 2023.
The Shared Endeavour Fund is about “giving people the tools to recognise and stand up to hate and intolerance, as we build a better and safer London for everyone”, he said.
Commander Helen Flanagan, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing in London, said that her officers are encountering “record numbers of children”.
Tackling this “requires a co-ordinated effort across schools, local authorities, government, families, community organisations and the charity sector to identify risks early and provide the right support before harm occurs”.
