Digital Dystopia — The Dark Nexus of Violent Extremism and Sexual Exploitation: A Case Study

CONTENT WARNING: This article contains references to school shootings, mass attacks, suicide, animal cruelty, child sexual exploitation, self-harm, eating disorders, violent extremism, terrorism, and gore.

On March 10, 2025, a 25-year-old man named Aniruth Kuppusamy of Chester County, Pennsylvania was charged with one count each of manufacturing child pornography, receiving child pornography, possessing child pornography, and the use of an interstate commerce facility to entice a minor to engage in sexually explicit conduct.[1] In addition, he is alleged to have engaged in violent and disturbing conversations with the minor victim, including his desire to commit murders. Posts on X suggest that Kuppusamy was someone who was well-known to some people in the Soyjak Attacker Video Fandom (SAVF) and adjacent circles on multiple platforms which include X, Instagram, Discord, Telegram, Steam, and Roblox. A number of associates outside of SAVF said on X that they'd known him for years and expressed surprise at his arrest, saying they had assumed that when he talked about child sexual abuse, he was joking or being edgy, and that they didn’t think he really meant what he said.

Many of these users on X who claimed to know him well for many years allege that he is the longtime poster “Doomerbrown” who had a numbers of handles on Twitter/X from 2020-2025. His accounts were often suspended for terms of service violations, and as with many in the SAVF network, he habitually maintained more than one account at the same time. He encouraged his followers to follow his alternate (“alt”) accounts to maintain connections. This is a common tactic used by people whose accounts are regularly suspended so as to avoid having to re-create their social graph and authenticate their identity to their old followers on a regular basis. On social media, in public as well as in direct messages detailed in court documents, Kuppusamy appears to have demonstrated many of the same interests and network intersections as other SAVF users, including the incel community, the true crime community (TCC), the neo-fascist militant accelerationist network known as Terrorgram, and Sextortion Com behaviors, such as a proclivity for child sexual abuse materials (CSAM), grooming minors for CSAM, and seeking out cutsigns (explained further in the section below).

Child Sexual Abuse and Child Sexual Abuse Materials

 In the affidavit dated March 17, 2025,[2] Instagram chat records show Kuppusamy telling the victim to create and send to him sexually explicit videos and images. He also stated that he may kidnap her and hold her hostage,[3] a pattern seen in other cases such as Kaleb Christopher Merritt who kidnapped a 12 year old. There is allegedly evidence that he searched for routes to the victim’s home and school.[4] Kuppusamy also sent other sexually explicit messages to the victim on Instagram, with the knowledge that she was a minor, and placed an emphasis on meeting her in person before her birthday when she would officially be a year older.[5] Of note is that the victim would still be a minor after her birthday; Kuppusamy was focused on meeting her while she was still the younger age.

Kuppusamy asked the victim to “do a cutsign for me,”[6] indicating that he wanted her to cut his name, or alias, into her skin, which is a grooming and extortion tactic associated with the sextortion and offline pillars of Com. It is a form of control that the perpetrator has over their victims. This act of marking is viewed within the Com network as a kind of social currency, known as clout (“clout chasing”), for a person who can convince or force a minor to perform the act of self harm and send visual proof of it. This visual proof serves as a signal that the victim is the property of the person whose name is cut into their skin. It also serves as a permanent reminder for survivors, and the perpetrators revel in the reality that even if victims left Com or the SAVF network, the physical scars would still be a reminder of the abuse. The Government’s Motion states that the victim indicated that she would be willing to do so a cutsign for Kuppusamy on camera.[7]

Victimization occurs across multiple harmful dimensions, present in these types of networks: 1) Self-Harm, 2) Animal Crushing / Animal Abuse, 3) Doxxing / Swatting, 4) Extortion / Sextortion / CSAM

Self-harm is commonly encouraged among victims. Non-suicidal self-injury, such as carving usernames into the skin, is evident in the Kuppusamy case, where court documents indicate that Kuppusamy explicitly requested a minor victim to perform a “cutsign” by carving his username into her skin. Other self-harm behaviors encouraged by these networks include self-immolation, self-stimulation with harmful objects, swallowing razor blades, and practices like bloodbathing and bedrotting. Psychological vulnerabilities such as body dissatisfaction, commonly associated with eating disorders, are intentionally exploited. Adolescents unhappy with their body image or those exhibiting traits of people-pleasing combined with high personal standards and critical self-evaluations are targeted explicitly due to their susceptibility to engaging in self-harm behaviors.

Animal cruelty (though not present in this case) is another pillar of harm in these communities, encompassing acts such as animal crushing and abuse. Such actions inflict extreme suffering and serve to normalize brutality within these groups. The practice is also used as a means of intimidation and control, intertwined with sexual deviancy and abhorrent behaviors including bestiality.

The court records indicate that the defendant not only discussed methods of intimidation similar to doxxing but also actively sought out information regarding the victim’s whereabouts—for instance, he searched for routes to the victim’s school and home. This location data is weaponized in much the same way as doxxing and swatting, as it opens the possibility for physical violence and heightened control over the victim. In this context, knowing where the victim lives becomes a potent tool of intimidation, adding a layer of physical risk to the emotional and public harm already associated with tactics designed to destabilize and exploit victims and their families.

The court records paint a disturbing picture of how extortion and sextortion are used as tools to generate and weaponize CSAM. In Kuppusamy’s case, for instance, the records detail how he actively solicited explicit videos from a minor. His communications reveal an overt coercive element—he not only demanded explicit material but also issued threats, including insinuations about kidnapping the victim. This demonstrates the use of sextortion, where the exchange of explicit content is forced under the threat of severe physical and emotional harm. By obtaining explicit material under duress, Kuppusamy transformed the victim’s private images into tools for further exploitation, a tactic that combines both extortion and sextortion. Such methods are designed not only to generate illicit content (CSAM) but also to undermine the victim’s autonomy by creating a constant state of fear and vulnerability. The explicit nature of the threats, along with the insistence on acquiring explicit videos, underlines a strategy to dominate and terrorize the victim, leaving enduring psychological and emotional scars. Furthermore, when viewed within the broader context of digital exploitation, the breach of privacy, combined with the strategic use of extortion and sextortion, results in both immediate and long-term harm: it not only subjects the victim to acute emotional trauma but also endangers their physical safety through the potential for real-world violence.

Victim Profile Favored by Threat Actors in the Network

Eating disorders constitute another critical area of targeted vulnerability within this ecosystem of harm. Perpetrators actively seek out psychological characteristics such as emotional dysregulation, difficulty managing emotions, and impulsivity, knowing these traits increase the victim’s susceptibility to manipulation during crises. Victims may then engage in self-injurious behaviors as a maladaptive coping mechanism. Sociocultural influences further exacerbate these vulnerabilities: online platforms frequented by these communities often showcase idealized images of “e-girls” and other embodiments of extreme thinness, creating peer pressure and competition among minor female victims to attain increasingly harmful body modifications. This normalization feedback loop not only reinforces self-harm but also bestows social prestige—where perpetrators gain recognition (or “clout”) by “collecting trophies” through inducing severe acts of self-harm.

Psychiatric comorbidities add another layer of complexity to the victimization. Conditions such as depression, anxiety, and substance abuse—commonly observed in the court records—further compound the trauma and complicate recovery. Such comorbidities, frequently seen in tandem with eating disorders within these networks, underscore shared underlying vulnerabilities that perpetrators exploit to maximize control and perpetuate long-lasting harm. The court records provide clear evidence that the defendant exploited psychological vulnerabilities to coerce self-harm among his minor victim. For example, the records document that the defendant explicitly instructed the victim to perform a “cutsign” by carving his username into her skin—a directive that unmistakably demonstrates his intent to induce self-injurious behavior as a means of control and humiliation. Furthermore, the records note that the victim’s psychological state was compromised,[8] with evidence of depressive and anxious symptoms that would make her more susceptible to such coercion. These psychiatric comorbidities, which are frequently observed in cases where perpetrators exploit self-harm tendencies, underscore the overall vulnerability of the victim.

Militant Accelerationism and Admiration of Mass Attackers

In the court documents, Kuppusamy's Instagram account handle was named as being “@totallykindday.”[9] The phrase “totally kind day” is a dogwhistle for the acronym “TKD,” which calls for the genocide of all Jewish people. The acronym is one of many in the format, “T_D,” where the center letter is a slur which refers to the group of people targeted for genocide, and is regularly used by people on the extreme and radical far right.

Like many others in the SAVF subculture, Kuppusamy appears to have self-identified as being part of TCC.[10] One of the primary commonalities within SAVF is a preoccupation with mass attacks and murder that goes beyond an interest in, or fascination with, mass attacks and the people who have carried them out. Like others within SAVF, he celebrated previous attackers and engaged with footage of attacks as well as “edits,” which are short video clips that may be centered around a single attack, attacker, or may mix footage from multiple attacks and murders; symbols popular with Neo-Nazis, and sometimes the occult, are often superimposed over some of the footage.

Kuppusamy demonstrated a particular admiration for Brenton Tarrant, who murdered 51 people in Christchurch, NZ, on March 15, 2019. Court documents and posts on social media show that he placed emphasis on observing the anniversary of the attack. Kuppusamy expressed a desire to be living with the victim for the anniversary of the Christchurch attack on March 15, 2025 so that they could watch videos of the attack together on that day.[11] This year, Kuppusamy expressed to another Instagram user his belief that a copycat attack was needed: “we need one Christchurch to break the indian [sic] hate bandwagon." He also suggested that a "white Aryan hero" should murder Hindu people.[12]

Kuppusamy also paid tribute to Tarrant on the anniversaries of his attack on social media platforms over many years. He posted a Terrorgram Collective graphic, “Saint Tarrant,” to his Instagram account on the anniversary in 2024.[13] (see figure 1) On the 2023 anniversary, he made two celebratory posts. In the first, with his then-Twitter account @doomerbrown, he made a tweet thread which began “For 3/15 let's do a Holy Terror Aesthetic dump” along with numerous propaganda images of militant accelerationism.[14] (see figure 2) The phrase “Holy Terror” has been a slogan and rallying cry used within the Terrorgram Collective and broader network for many years, at least back to 2018.[15] The second tweet was comprised of two pieces of artwork of Tarrant and a video. The video which Kuppusamy uploaded was a ~1:00 minute long video of a gamified Roblox recreation of the massacre in the Al Noor Mosque with the original audio footage from the livestream synced to the recreation.[16] (see figure 3) In order to boost his post, he used his alt Twitter account, @doomerbrown2 to repost it.[17] (see figure 4) On the 2022 anniversary, he posted an image of Tarrant painted in a style evocative of an Eastern Orthodox Christianity saint.[18] This image is especially popular within SAVF. (see figure 5)

Kuppusamy also praised Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, and Patrick Wood Crusius who killed 23 people and injured 22 others in a mass shooting attack at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas. Kuppusamy described both of them as “saints.” His phone contained videos of: the 2019 Christchurch mass shooting; Payton Gendron's 2022 mass shooting at Tops Grocery Store in Buffalo, New York; and the 1999 Columbine High School mass shooting.[19]

In addition to celebrating Terrorgram “saints” such as the Christchurch, El Paso, and Buffalo attackers, Kuppusamy also spelled out his support for militant accelerationism on his @doomerbrown Twitter account before it was suspended.[20] (see figure 6) The header image for his account is ecofascist, militant accelerationist propaganda created by Michael Mahoney (“Mike Ma”) that was included in his 2019 self-published book, Harassment Architecture. (see figure 7) The book encourages mass attacks, the destruction of infrastructure, and is full of virulent misogyny and racism. Solomon Henderson, the Antioch, Tennessee school shooter, and SAVF network member, excerpted and recommended the book three times, twice in his manifesto and once in his diary.

For his profile picture, Kuppusamy utilized a nihilist accelerationist meme—the Doomer Soldier, smiling as the world around him burns. (see figure 8) This meme was created from turning a Doomer Wojak, the nihilist version of the wojak meme created on 4chan—into Doomer Soldier. Kuppusamy’s profile picture is a modified version of what became an official merch version of this meme for a tactical gear merchandise company called Task Force Doomer. In this meme, a Task Force Doomer illustration has been modified to add the smile of a different wojak variation, skin tone, and a sonnenrad patch to the center of Doomer Soldier’s plate carrier, in order to evoke Brenton Tarrant.

Violent Threats

Kuppusamy frequently discussed with the victim his desires to harm and murder others. He threatened to kill the victim's mother, and talked about wanting to stab people and kill a person “by handcuffing them in their own car and putting a brick on the accelerator into a lake.”[21] He also sent the victim schematics of how to construct homemade firearms, including a semi-automatic weapon with an extended magazine, a “pipe pistol,” and a lighter designed to shoot a single round.[22] He discussed with the victim tactics for how they could commit murder and not get caught, saying “when you have no relationship to the victim there's no camera evidence no dna and the case isnt high profile plus there's already high crime or low resources;” “it’s impossible to solve.”[23] Though alarming, this behavior is not unique to this case. In a recent CBC Fifth Estate episode on 764, a survivor of the group stated that the extorter, known as “Mk Ultra,” demanded she kill her dogs and her mother, at which point he was going to force her to accompany him on a spree where he would kidnap, rape, and kill other young girls. Once the police caught him, his plan was that they would shoot themselves. The survivor stated she felt as though he turned her into someone else, someone who she would never have chosen to be.

Intersections With Previous SAVF Mass Attackers

The Government’s Motion for Pretrial Detention states that the victim claimed to be associated with with Natalie “Samantha” Rupnow, who was a 15-year-old student who committed a mass shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison, Wisconsin. Rupnow killed three people, including herself, and injured six others. Rupnow was part of the SAVF network, and another SAVF attacker, Solomon Henderson, who was inspired by her attack, committed a school shooting at his high school in Antioch, Tennessee and died by suicide.

A court document states: “In March of 2025, the Victim made Instagram posts referencing “Sam Rupnow” including a post that stated “oomf shot up her school while i was in the psych ward at least wait for me to get out.’”[24] The abbreviation “oomf” is often used by young people to mean “one of my friends,” although in SAVF circles and other online spaces it is also used to mean “one of my followers.” At this time, the authors cannot confirm if the victim was friends with Rupnow or if Rupnow followed the victim, or vice versa, on any social media platforms. After she made the posts about Rupnow, Kuppusamy first advised the victim that she not talk about her “plans” or “intentions” to anyone but him because “there are 1000% informants in tcc circles trust no one but me.”[25] By saying this, Kuppusamy tells the victim not to trust anyone in a community mostly made up of young people, many of whom are still in primary education or a few years out of it, thereby isolating her and further from removing her from chances at assistance and intervention.

After telling the victim not to trust anyone but him, Kuppusamy threatened to murder the victim, saying  he would be “slitting ur throat and poasting it on story if u talk to any of ur mutuals btw #iloveyou.”[26] In addition to threatening to murder the victim, it is highly likely that he was referencing the 2019 murder of 17 year old Bianca Devins by the then 21 years old Brandon Clark who cut her throat, nearly decapitating her. He meticulously planned her murder, filmed it, and posted photos of Devins’ body, and himself, over the course of many hours, on multiple social media platforms including on Instagram and Snapchat—both of which have the “story” feature which Kuppusamy mentioned in his threat. The day Devins was murdered and for weeks afterwards, men on the far right, especially those in the incel community with which Kuppusamy has self-identified, spread the images of Devins’ body which Clark created because like many attackers, he wanted infamy. In addition to this, the authors have seen evidence that another minor with whom Kuppusamy is known to have interacted, and who claims to have been close with him, uses images of Bianca Devins on their social media accounts and said that they’ve been doing so for years. Images of Devins while she was alive are popular and regularly used by some within subcultures like TCC and girls who cultivate a cutecore aesthetic, which Devins did in some of her online accounts. The authors have viewed what appear to be some of the victim’s social media accounts and she regularly uses the cutecore aesthetic. Given the specific language he used in his the threat, it is highly likely that he meant for his victim to understand that he was referring to Devins’ murder.

While it is unknown at this point if the victim or Kuppusamy had any interactions with Rupnow, Kuppusamy, as @notdoomerbrown, did interact with the the X account @HolyTerrorist1 run by “Hansen,” who called himself “a friend of skreewie.”[27] As @HolyTerrorist1, “Hansen” posted to X an invite link to a Telegram group chat[28] to watch the livestream before[29] Arda Küçükyetim, aka “skreewie,” began his mass stabbing attack in Eskişehir, Turkey on August 12, 2024. Küçükyetim stabbed five people between the ages of 57 - 87 years old. “Hansen” didn’t just post the invite to a group chat before he knew a mass attack would begin, he allegedly collaborated with Arda Küçükyetim on the attack, helping Küçükyetim pick the location and plan his route. He allegedly also told Küçükyetim that he was planning a school shooting in his own country. After the attack, “Hansen” posted to multiple social media platforms Küçükyetim’s manifesto, a recording of the attack, and selfies of Küçükyetim. It was after the attack when Kuppusamy spoke to “Hansen” on X, telling him to make the Telegram group chat a channel.[30] (see figures 9 & 10)

Disinformation as a Tactic of SAVF

SAVF users often come together to create distractions, disinformation, and gain attention in the events of a mass attack or arrest from someone in their network. In the aftermath of Rupnow's attack, SAVF members immediately went to work trying to attract the attention of the media with edited photos of the attacker and a fabricated manifesto that they claimed had been posted to a private discord chat. One SAVF member got a lot of media attention for claiming credit for providing the fake manifesto as well as having personal knowledge of Rupnow. Tactics like this are a way for SAVF members to gain clout.

Solomon Henderson also embraced disinformation in his diary and manifesto, such as emulating some of Tarrant's format and citing influences that were unlikely to be a real inspiration, as Tarrant did by crediting Candace Owens. Henderson also used very niche memes that were likely to be meaningful only to other SAVF network participants, such as crediting another minor child in the SAVF network for providing tips and weapons. This child is often the subject of derogatory jokes, and his photo is often used in fake doxxes.

In the case of Kuppusamy, SAVF users were tagging unrelated accounts and posting unrelated photos as the perpetrator, which is something that they do as an in-group joke. It's also common within this network for users to imply that serious crimes and violence are a joke, and that threats are a “parody.” Minimizing language is very typical. Some of Kuppusamy's online acquaintances were referring to the minor victim going to the police as a “prank” against Kuppusamy. The authors have seen some SAVF network users spreading unconfirmed and derogatory information about the victim as well as a supposed dox of the victim. (The authors have not attempted to identify the minor victim's legal identity and do not know if the information in the dox is correct.) The actions of these SAVF associates of Kuppusamy, some of whom self identify as being part of extortion Com, have a dual function. They serve as both punishment and threat of additional retribution to Kuppusamy's victim as well as acting as a warning to other victims that even if they get their abusers arrested, others in the network will still come after them.

Terrorgram Collective in the Context of the Aniruth Kuppusamy Case

The Terrorgram Collective has emerged as a central node within the broader ecosystem of violent extremist channels operating primarily on Telegram. This entity, officially designated a terrorist organization by both the United Kingdom and the United States, advocates for militant accelerationism, aiming to hasten societal collapse through mass violence and targeted attacks. Its propaganda emphasizes narratives designed to exacerbate social divisions and glorifies mass attackers through a “saints culture,” producing highly stylized imagery and instructional content intended to incite violence.

According to court records, Aniruth Kuppusamy’s social media activity indicates a significant alignment with Terrorgram’s ideologies and propaganda. Beyond celebrating attackers like Brenton Tarrant through graphic content produced by Terrorgram, Kuppusamy explicitly expressed admiration for prominent Terrorgram leader “Miss Gorehound,” Dallas Erin Humber, who faced federal indictment in 2024 for terrorism-related crimes.[31] His online communications also reveal operational interest in executing violence to advance extremist objectives, notably targeting Hindu communities to “break the Indian hate bandwagon.”[32]

Moreover, Kuppusamy’s participation extended across intersecting online extremist communities, notably within networks like Soyjak Attacker Video Fandom (SAVF) and the True Crime Community (TCC), reinforcing his involvement in digital spaces notorious for glorifying and inciting mass attacks. Following his arrest, associates from these communities employed typical disinformation and obfuscation tactics characteristic of Terrorgram’s operational security measures, including minimizing rhetoric and tagging unrelated accounts to obscure affiliations. The case against Kuppusamy underscores the ongoing operational threat posed by the Terrorgram Collective propaganda and ideological influence over violent extremist networks.

Kuppusamy is currently being held in pre-trial detention, as prosecutors believe he poses a strong risk of reoffending. The court document describes him as a dangerous offender that would not be easy to monitor if he was granted internet access. He is also considered a flight risk, in part because his father initially “provided false information” to the FBI about the location of Kuppusamy's passport. The document states, “The defendant poses a clear danger to the community, and there is no condition or combination of conditions that could assure the safety of the community if he were to be released.”[33] This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse.

[1] United States v. KUPPUSAMY, 2:25-cr-00130, (E.D. Pa.) Designation Form, Document 13, April 2, 2025.

[2]United States v. KUPPUSAMY, 2:25-cr-00130, (E.D. Pa.) Redacted Affidavit in Support of a Criminal Complaint, Document 10, March 10, 2025. Pages 2-3.

[3] Affidavit, page 3.

[4] United States v. KUPPUSAMY, 2:25-cr-00130, (E.D. Pa.) Government’s Motion for Pretrial Detention, Document 12, April 1, 2025. Page 2

[5] Affidavit, pages 3-4.

[6] Motion for Pretrial Detention, page 2.

[7] Motion for Pretrial Detention, page 2.

[8] Motion for Pretrial Detention, page 6.

[9] Affidavit, page 1.

[10] Motion for Pretrial Detention, page 6.

[11] Motion for Pretrial Detention, page 3.

[12] Motion for Pretrial Detention, page 3.

[13] Motion for Pretrial Detention, pages 3-4.

[14] https://web.archive.org/web/20230318024541/https://twitter.com/Doomerbrown/status/1636178526767333376

[15] Data from one of the author's research.

[16] Screenshot of a PDF exported from the browser on 3/16/2023, from one of the author's research data.

[17] Screenshot of a PDF exported from the browser on 3/16/2023, from one of the author's research data.

[18] https://web.archive.org/web/20220315135151/https://twitter.com/Doomerbrown/status/1503730452020011010

[19] Motion for Pretrial Detention, page 6.

[20] https://archive.ph/0VKi2

[21] Motion for Pretrial Detention, page 5.

[22] Motion for Pretrial Detention, page 5.

[23] Motion for Pretrial Detention, pages 6-7.

[24] Motion for Pretrial Detention, page 6.

[25] Motion for Pretrial Detention, page 6.

[26] Motion for Pretrial Detention, page 6.

[27] https://ghostarchive.org/archive/O4oOP?wr=false

[28] https://web.archive.org/web/20240812152340/https://twitter.com/HolyTerrorist1/status/1823017514919399529

[29] https://archive.is/DUOjS

[30] https://web.archive.org/web/20240812155915/https://twitter.com/HolyTerrorist1/status/1823026469997535258

[31]Motion for Pretrial Detention, page 3.

[32] Motion for Pretrial Detention, page 3.

[33] Motion for Pretrial Detention, page 10.