Overview
- The Counter Terrorism Online Centre opened in Sydney on Thursday and is funded from the May federal budget with about $74–76 million to build a national online counterterrorism capability.
- The centre co-locates the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation and the Australian Federal Police so investigators can identify at-risk individuals and intervene earlier in online spaces.
- Officials say the move responds to a sharp rise in youth radicalisation, with children now making up roughly 40% of the domestic counterterrorism caseload and the AFP recently charging a 17-year-old in New South Wales.
- CTOC will act as a single entry point for information from overseas partners and work with law enforcement on investigations while combining human investigators with new AI detection tools over the next two years.
- Authorities say extremists increasingly use gaming and private chat platforms such as Discord and Roblox to groom young people, so the centre aims to prevent real-world harm while officials stress it will not police ordinary non-violent speech.