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The incel movement is waging a “war against women” and poses a growing threat to children, according to a report that calls on tech companies to intervene to stop the radicalisation of lonely men and boys online.

The incel – or “involuntarily celibate” – movement is an online subculture involving men who feel unable to have sex or find love and express hostility and extreme resentment towards women.

Research into the leading incel forum found a “community of angry, belligerent and unapologetic” men that poses a “clear and present danger” to women and an “emerging threat to children”.

Users posted about rape every 29 minutes and the forum’s rules were changed six months ago to accommodate paedophilia.

More than a fifth of posts featured misogynist, racist, antisemitic or anti-LGBTQ language, with 16% of posts featuring misogynist slurs, the study said.

On the forum Sky News found posts saying “women should be sex slaves” and “I feel hate when I see a girl”.

The study of more than one million posts over 18 months found that posts mentioning mass murders increased by 59%.

Perpetrators of mass shootings are known to have been active in incel communities or discuss their ideas, including the Plymouth gunman Jake Davison, who killed five people including a three-year-old girl.

Researchers warned that “unchecked, incel communities have the potential to radicalise further” and called on tech companies to act.

Jake Davison carried out the UK's deadliest mass shooting since 2010
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Jake Davison carried out the UK’s deadliest mass shooting since 2010

‘Not lone wolves’

Imran Ahmed, chief executive of the Centre for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), a British non-profit group which carried out the study, said: “Incels are not lone wolves or socially isolated.

“They are in fact enmeshed in highly active communities with a coherent, evolving ideology that has radicalised further in the past 18 months.

“They are egging each other on to commit mass violence, normalising sexual violence against women and even codified their approval of sexualising children.”

UK pupil sought incels’ advice after ‘Prevent referral’

In some cases, boys as young as 15 are being led down a rabbit hole of hatred and extremism, the research says.

One user, given the pseudonym Carl in the report, posted on the forum asking for help after he claimed to have been flagged to Prevent for carrying a knife in his school bag.

Other forum members responded with advice on how to avoid scrutiny online and congratulated him on his decision to stop taking psychiatric medication.

Throughout the thread, Carl referred to prescribed psychiatric medicine as “jewpills”, itself a reference to an incel conspiracy theory that psychiatric medicine is part of a Jewish conspiracy to pacify white men.

‘Power-users’

The research was conducted by “scraping” forum posts and analysing members’ activity, trends and keywords.

The forum received an average of 2.6 million monthly visits, with 17,118 members. In the 18 months covered, only 4,057 wrote posts.

Almost half (43.8%) of traffic to the forum came from the US, with 7.5% from the UK.

Discourse is driven by 406 “power-users”, who produce 74.6% of all posts, some spending more than 10 hours a day on the forum.

The forum’s rules were changed in March from “do not sexualise minors” to “do not sexualise pre-pubescent minors”.

Incel content on YouTube

The study found that forum users most frequently shared content from YouTube, where incel channels have more than 136,000 subscribers and 24.2 million video views.

Davison subscribed to an incel content channel that YouTube has refused to take down despite public pressure, the CCDH researchers said.

Another channel posts videos of women covertly filmed in London.

Read more:
Incel killer’s father lives ‘reverse nightmare’
Incel movement of growing concern to UK police

The CCDH urged YouTube to take down all incel channels and called on Google to push “incelosphere” websites down search results.

Mr Ahmed said: “We find in this study a reflexive dynamic between misogynistic communities online and incels.

“They argue with each other, support each other, share ideas, promote each other’s lexicon and values. In short, they are brothers-in-arms in a war against women.

“That’s why a small subculture, numbering in the thousands, has had such an enormous effect.”

Sky News has asked YouTube for comment.

‘Not all violent’

Dr Lewys Brace, a senior lecturer at Exeter University specialising in online extremist radicalisation, including incel culture, told Sky News that he agreed with the study’s recommendations.

“The thing that concerns me personally most about this incel movement, is that people don’t actually need to look for this stuff to get to it,” he said.

Although he said that some people in the community posed a real threat to others, he stressed most are not violent.

“Obviously not everyone in this community is violent,” he said. “In fact, my research has shown that actual violent conversations are the minority of conversations on these platforms.”

The problem for law enforcement is telling the difference between someone acting out on the internet and someone who poses a threat, he said.

He added: “For me, the ones that concern me are the ones that take these ideas, and they’ve written long posts where they’ve integrated these ideas with their own personal offline experiences.”

Given the example of Davison posting long YouTube videos featuring incel ideas, Dr Brace said: “That’s exactly it. Those are exactly the kind of examples we should be concerned about.”

Origins of inceldom

Incel as a form of self-identification is thought to date from a website founded in the 1990s as support for people who found it hard to have sexual experiences.

The risk is that sexual frustration and the blame incels place on women is leveraged into violence.

The most notorious attack was carried out by Elliot Rodger, 22, who killed six people and himself in a rampage in California in 2014.

He left behind a 137-page “manifesto” and a YouTube video revealing that he carried out the attack because he could not secure a relationship with a woman, which in turn led to his hatred for those who were in relationships.

Rodger is frequently idolised and venerated in incel forums where he is sometimes referred to as the “Supreme Gentleman”.

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‘Physical threat’ from Iran on people living in UK has ‘increased significantly’, watchdog says

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'Physical threat' from Iran on people living in UK has 'increased significantly', watchdog says

The threat of physical attacks by Iran on people living in the UK has increased “significantly” since 2022, according to a new report by parliament’s intelligence watchdog.

Iran poses a “wide-ranging, persistent and unpredictable threat” to the UK, according to the Intelligence and Security Committee.

It also said Iran’s intelligence services were “willing and able – often through third party agents – to attempt assassination within the UK, and kidnap from the UK”.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Pic: Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/West Asia News Agency/Reuters

The report said there have been 15 murder or kidnap attempts against British citizens or UK-based individuals since the beginning of 2022 and August 2023.

Sky News has approached the Iranian embassy for a comment.

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Millions of Iranians unite in mourning

The report authors add: “Whilst Iran’s activity appears to be less strategic and on a smaller scale than Russia and China, Iran poses a wide-ranging threat to UK national security, which should not be underestimated: it is persistent and crucially – unpredictable.”

The committee also says that while the threat is often focused on dissidents and other opponents to the regime, there is also an increased threat to Jewish and Israeli interests in the UK.

More on Iran

The report warns that while Iran has not developed a nuclear weapon, it has taken steps towards that goal.

It found that Iran had been “broadly compliant” with the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), aimed at limiting its nuclear ambitions.

But since Donald Trump withdrew from that deal in 2018, the report said the nuclear threat had increased and Tehran “had the capability to arm in a relatively short period”.

The UK government is also accused of “fire-fighting” rather than developing a real understanding of Iran.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and military commanders watch as military equipment passes by during the National Army Day parade
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Iran’s president oversees a parade in Tehran in April showing off the country’s military hardware. Pic: West Asia News Agency/Reuters

An Iranian missile is seen during the National Army Day parade ceremony in Tehran
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Missiles are paraded through the capital during the recent National Army Day ceremony. Pic: West Asia News Agency/Reuters

The report says: “The government’s policy on Iran has suffered from a focus on crisis management, driven by concerns over Iran’s nuclear programme, to the exclusion of other issues.

“As one of our expert witnesses told the committee: ‘Strategy is not a word that I think has crossed the lips of policy makers for a while, certainly not in relation to Iran’.”

The committee concluded its evidence-taking in August 2023, the result of two years of work, but the report authors say their conclusions “remain relevant”.

But the report authors questioned whether UK sanctions against individuals would “in practice deliver behavioural change. Or in fact unhelpfully push Iran towards China”.

The committee also said the British government should consider proscribing the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), although some argue it would limit the UK’s ability to talk to and influence Iran.

Read more from Sky News:
Who is Iran’s supreme leader?
Defiant Khamenei makes appearance
Anger in Iran over US and Israeli strikes

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Responding to the report, a UK government spokesperson said: “The government will take action wherever necessary to protect national security, which is a foundation of our plan for change.

“We have already placed Iran on the enhanced tier of the foreign influence registration scheme and introduced further sanctions against individuals and entities linked to Iran, bringing the total number of sanctions to 450.”

British security services say Tehran uses criminal proxies to carry out its work in Britain.

In December, two Romanians were charged after a journalist working for a Persian language media organisation in London was stabbed in the leg. In May, three Iranian men appeared in court charged with assisting Iran’s foreign intelligence service and plotting violence against journalists.

Earlier this year, the UK government said it would require the Iranian state to register everything it does to exert political influence in the UK, because of what it called increasingly aggressive activity.

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‘A constant game of cat and mouse’: Inside the crackdown on illegal moped delivery drivers

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'A constant game of cat and mouse': Inside the crackdown on illegal moped delivery drivers

The first thing you notice when immigration officers stop a possible illegal moped delivery driver is the speed in which the suspect quickly taps on their mobile.

“We’re in their WhatsApp groups – they’ll be telling thousands now that we’re here… so our cover is blown,” the lead immigration officer tells me.

“It’s like a constant game of cat and mouse.”

Twelve Immigration Enforcement officers, part of the Home Office, are joining colleagues from Avon and Somerset Police in a crackdown on road offences and migrants working illegally.

Police chase suspected illegal immigrant working as a delivery drivers

The West of England and Wales has seen the highest number of arrests over the last year for illegal workers outside of London.

“It is a problem… we’re tackling it,” Murad Mohammed, from Immigration Enforcement, says. He covers all the devolved nations.

“This is just one of the operations going on around the country, every day of the week, every month of the year.”

Murad Mohammed from Immigration Enforcement
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Murad Mohammed, from Immigration Enforcement, says his team are attempting to tackle the issue

Just outside the Cabot Circus shopping complex, we stop a young Albanian man who arrived in the UK on the back of a truck.

He’s on an expensive and fast-looking e-bike, with a new-looking Just Eat delivery bag.

He says he just uses it for “groceries” – but the officer isn’t buying it. He’s arrested, but then bailed instantly.

A man inspects the Just Eat food delivery bag of a suspected illegal immigrant working as a delivery driver

We don’t know the specifics of his case, but one officer tells me this suspected offence won’t count against his asylum claim.

Such is the scale of the problem – the backlog, loopholes and the complexity of cases – that trying to keep on top of it feels impossible.

This is one of many raids happening across the UK as part of what the government says is a “blitz” targeting illegal working hotspots.

Angela Eagle, the border security and asylum minister, joins the team for an hour at one of Bristol’s retail parks, scattered with fast food chains and, therefore, delivery bikes.

Angela Eagle, Minister for Border Security and Asylum
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Border security and asylum minister, Angela Eagle, speaks to Sky News

She says arrests for illegal working are up over the last year by 51% from the year before, to more than 7,000.

“If we find you working, you can lose access to the hotel or the support you have [been] given under false pretences,” she said.

“We are cracking down on that abuse, and we intend to keep doing so.”

A suspected illegal immigrant working as a delivery driver being arrested

There are reports that asylum seekers can rent legitimate delivery-driver accounts within hours of arriving in the country – skipping employment legality checks.

Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Just Eat all told Sky News they’re continuing to strengthen the technology they use to remove anyone working illegally.

But a new Border Security Bill, working its way through Parliament, could see companies fined £60,000 for each illegal worker discovered, director disqualifications and potential prison sentences of up to five years.

“I had them all in to see me last week and I told them in no uncertain terms that we take a very tough line on this kind of abuse and they’ve got to change their systems so they can drive it out and off their platforms,” the minister tells me.

Read more:
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The gig economy – so prevalent in every city – creates another incentive for those wanting to risk their lives coming to the UK illegally.

More than 20,000 migrants have crossed the English Channel to the UK in 2025 – a record number at this point of the year.

A suspected illegal immigrant working as a delivery driver holds his helmet

For some of those who arrive, a bike and a phone provide a way to repay debts to gang masters.

There were eight arrests today in Bristol, one or two taken into custody, but it was 12 hours of hard work by a dozen immigration officers and the support of the police.

As two mopeds are pushed onto a low-loader, you can’t help but feel, despite the best intentions, that at the moment, this is a losing battle.

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This flimsy vessel carrying migrants could reach British waters in a few hours’ time

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This flimsy vessel carrying migrants could be hours away from reaching British waters

We see the boat from a distance – the orange of the life jackets reflected in the rising sun.

And as we draw closer, we can make out dozens of people crowded on board as it sets off from the shore, from a beach near Dunkirk.

There is no sign of any police activity on the shore, and there are no police vessels in the water.

Instead, the migrants crammed into an inflatable dinghy are being watched by us, on board a private boat, and the looming figure of the Minck, a French search and rescue ship that soon arrives.

Picture to go with Adam Parsons' eyewitness of migrants crossing on 10/07/25
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Minck, a French search and rescue ship, shadows the boat

The dinghy meanders. It’s not heading towards Britain but rather hugging the coast.

A few of the passengers wave at us cheerfully, but then the boat starts to head back towards the shore.

Picture to go with Adam Parsons' eyewitness of migrants crossing on 10/07/25
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Sky’s Adam Parsons at the scene

As it nears a different beach, we see a police vehicle – a dune buggy – heading down to meet it.

Normal practice is for French police officers to slice through the material of any of these small boats that end up back on shore.

Two police officers get out of the buggy and wait. A police helicopter arrives and circles above, performing a tight circle over the heads of the migrants.

The police think they might be about to go back on to the beach; in fact, these passengers know that most of them are staying put.

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The boat stops a short distance from the shore and four people jump out. As they wade towards the beach, the boat turns and starts to head back out to sea.

We see the two police officers approach these four men and have a brief conversation.

They don’t appear to check the bags they are carrying and, if they do question them about why they left the boat, it is the most cursory of conversations.

In reality, these people probably don’t speak French but they were almost certainly involved in arranging this crossing, which is against the law. But all four walk away, disappearing into the dunes at the back of the beach.

Read more:
Why do so many from around the world try to cross the Channel?
Channel crossings rise by 50% in first six months of 2025

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Why do migrants want to come to the UK?

We follow the boat as it chugs off in the direction of Britain, carrying around 50 people.

The Minck returns to shadowing its progress, but its job is limited to offering help if the boat gets into trouble.

Otherwise, if the engine keeps working, then this flimsy vessel will reach British waters in a few hours’ time.

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