Metro Manila, Philippines – An online nihilistic violent extremist group called “764” may have influenced one of the Tacloban school shooters, Senator Risa Hontiveros said during her panel’s hearing into rising youth violence on Wednesday, July 1.
Canada and New Zealand have designated 764 a terrorist group, while the US Department of Justice considered the group as a terrorist network and a national security threat.
The group allegedly grooms vulnerable youth online through games such as Gorebox, Minecraft, and Roblox. It supposedly encourages the creation of graphic pornography, harm family pets, commit self-harm and even suicide.
Hontiveros said the group also has instruction material on how to create weapons, and explosives, and how to commit “sextortion” – blackmailing people with their explicit images and videos.
The senator presented evidence gathered from suspect Nash’s dummy social media page. Comments on previous posts show that some now-deactived user accounts encouraged Nash to delete evidence that may relate to the Tacloban school shooting. These users were supposedly part of 764 network groups.
“Na edit na kita boy sa tiktok. Make sure na delete mo and discord, Reddit, telegram para walang evidence na mahanap,” user Sedykh Ryazanov said in a comment on Nash’s dummy account.
[Translations: I’ve edited you on TikTok. Make sure to delete Discord, Reddit, and Telegram so no evidence can be found.]
Hontiveros said investigators confirmed that these accounts were active on Meta before deactivation, showing that real people were using the profiles.
Another link to possible extremist influence was an image of Nash wearing a KMFDM band t-shirt posted on his social media account. Members of online communities such as 764 wear merchandise from the band to commemorate one of the Columbine school shooters, who was an avid fan of KMFDM.
She clarified that these were not final conclusions but leads that have since been forwarded to the National Bureau of Investigation.
