The arrest in Austria of a third suspect on Friday in connection with the Taylor Swift concert plot has seen Viennese Islamist experts warn of a new generation of teenage terrorists who use the TikTok social media app.
On Friday, Vienna police announced the arrest on Thursday evening of an 18-year-old Iraqi citizen with refugee status in Austria. The teenager is not accused of having knowledge of the planned bomb attack in the Austrian capital, but interior minister Gerhard Karner said he had “taken an oath to Islamic State on August 6th and moved in the main suspect’s social circle”.
Plans are already under way to deport the teenager, said Mr Karner, leaving Austrian prosecutors with two main suspects – and many unanswered questions about a possible Islamist circle in the Vienna area.
The 19-year-old main suspect, an Austrian man with family ties to North Macedonia, was arrested on Wednesday morning in his home in Ternitz, 70km southwest of the capital. He took an Islamic State (IS) oath last month, has made a full confession about his bomb plans and is being held on remand in Vienna’s main prison.
He faces charges of membership of a criminal organisation and of associating with terrorists, with other charges likely to follow.
Facing the same charges is a 17-year-old friend, also Austrian with North Macedonian family roots. He was arrested on Wednesday afternoon near the concert venue, where he reportedly worked for a service provider firm.
The 17-year-old denies any knowledge of the planned attack and has declined to answer police questions.
“These accusations have no basis in fact,” said Nikolaus Rast, the 17-year-old’s lawyer. “My client did not swear an oath of loyalty to IS, my client made no hate postings online, my client is simply a friend of the other man – that’s all.”
Investigators suspect the 17-year-old is part of a radical Islamist network, pointing to regular visits to a Vienna mosque with an extremist reputation.
Other attendees include a man who planned an attack on Vienna central station and another who shot dead four people in central Vienna in November 2020.
Vienna city authorities have closed the mosque until further notice, citing the radical preaching of its main imam.
However terrorism experts say such buildings are increasingly irrelevant for younger, social media-oriented generations – and popular online imams.
Experts suggest the age of recent suspects arrested in Austria and Germany on Islamist charges is proof of a new generation being radicalised online via popular apps.
According to Austrian terrorism expert Prof Peter Neumann, Chinese-owned platform TikTok offers the same benefits for Islamist preachers as pop stars.
“TikTok is driven strongly by algorithms,” said Prof Neumann, “so when someone clicks on something going in [an Islamist] direction, then they get more of the same.”
TikTok and the messaging service Telegram are particularly attractive for organisers in Islamic State, he said, helping the extremist group reverse its slump in influence and visibility in the last five years.
“And we have now seen in the last 10 months that the number of attacks and attack plans has quadrupled compared to 2022,” he added. “This very, very significant increase in the last 10 months has to be taken seriously.”
Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer has confirmed that the bomb plot was foiled after Austrian military intelligence received two separate tip-offs from partner services in the last 10-14 days. Because the tip-offs were vague, he said, it took time to investigate.
“I am very happy that it was possible to get this information,” he said.