Syrian Refugees Perpetrators Of Stabbing Attacks In Austria Turned Radical Through TikTok

UNSPLASH/Max Fleischmann ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - A 23-year-old Syrian refugee who killed a teenager and injured five others in a weekend stabbing in the Austrian city of Villach became radicals quickly for using TikTok.

The suspect, Ahmad G., has the flag of the Islamic State militant group at his apartment but has never previously caught the attention of Austrian authorities.

The case highlights the challenge of preventing the so-called lone wolf attack, which is when the attacker acts alone without outside help.

His online radicalization drew further attention to social media platforms like TikTok that could offer users a large amount of content about the subject of interest, which some experts say could accelerate their involvement in it.

He radicalized himself within three months, a spokesman for prosecutors said in the nearby town of Klagenfurt, where the investigation was being carried out, told Reuters on Monday, February 17.

"Not through other people, personal contacts both online and live. Apparently, he just digested the video and decided to do the act. No one else said 'Do it!'," he said.

"He himself confirmed it and said he watched the video and then decided he wanted to join ISIS," continued the prosecutor's spokesman.

TikTok, in a 2022 post on its website, said it was committed to finding solutions and working with "civil society in fighting violent extremism".

Serangan di Austria terjadi hanya beberapa hari setelah seorang warga Afghanistan berusia 24 tahun menabrak kerumor orang di Munich di negara tetangga Jerman, mengambunuh dua orang dan melukai puluhan lainnya.

Munich prosecutor Gabriele Tilmann said there appeared to be a motive for radicalism.

Police said Villach used a foldable knife to attack and record himself vowing allegiance to ISIS, and said his goal was to be shot dead by police. Instead, he was arrested minutes after another Syrian helped stop him.

The suspect's photo was widely circulated, showing him sitting on the street smiling as a police officer confronted him moments after the attack.

The suspect is believed to have arrived in Austria in 2019, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office said, and wanted to continue his trip to Germany on a false identity so German authorities would not reject him as an asylum applicant because he was already in a safe third country, Austria.

A spokesman for the Austrian Interior Ministry said the suspect spent four days in detention in Germany in May last year for unable to pay fines for falsifying documents, but did not say what type of document it was.