grooming

A court in Manchester in the United Kingdom has sentenced seven men to prison terms ranging from 12 to 35 years for the systematic sexual abuse of two teenage girls in Rochdale, in the north of England, between 2001 and 2006.

Mohammed Zahid, a 65-year-old market trader and the group’s ringleader, received the longest sentence on Wednesday after being convicted of multiple counts of rape and other sexual offences against both victims.

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Six other men, aged between 39 and 67, were also convicted following a four-month trial that concluded in June.

They formed part of what would later be referred to as “grooming gangs” by UK media and be used in toxic public discourse by the far right as a means to demonise British Asians and Muslims.

The girls, who did not know each other, were both 13 years old when the abuse began.

Prosecutors presented evidence that the victims, both from troubled family backgrounds, were initially offered gifts, money, and places to stay. The abuse escalated as they were taken to various locations across the town, where they were given alcohol and drugs before being sexually assaulted by the members of the group.

Both victims provided impact statements during the three-day sentencing hearing. One described how the abuse had affected every aspect of her life, from her physical and mental health to her ability to form relationships. The other said that, at the time, she believed all men would expect sex from her and urged other victims to come forward regardless of how much time had passed.

The case represents part of ongoing legal proceedings addressing historical child sexual exploitation in Rochdale, which first came to public attention in the early 2010s. Local authorities and the Greater Manchester Police (GMP) have acknowledged failures in their duty to protect the victims.

Stephen Watson, the chief constable of GMP, issued an apology in April 2022, admitting that the force had been “borderline incompetent” in the way it managed the issue. The force, along with other local institutions, had failed to act despite warnings, according to a 2022 government-commissioned report, which led to an impression that the local council and police were downplaying “the ethnic dimensions of child sexual exploitation”.

Estimates from a 2014 report suggested the number of victims who may have been exploited by men primarily of Pakistani heritage in such cases is at least 1,400.

However, the vast majority of sexual cases in the UK continue to be perpetrated by white men.

The issue was raised again in the UK earlier this year when US tech billionaire Elon Musk began using his X account to accuse Prime Minister Keir Starmer of being complicit due to his role as head of the Crown Prosecution Service at the time. The government rejected the allegations.

Other figures later seized on the issue, explicitly linking the perpetrators’ ethnicity to their crimes and blaming a culture of permissiveness towards minorities for blocking investigations, despite evidence to the contrary.

Far-right agitator Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known widely as Tommy Robinson, frequently campaigned on the issue, blaming the UK’s Muslim community and accusing the government of a cover-up, and got Musk’s backing due to his belief that Robinson, who has been repeatedly convicted of other crimes, was blowing the whistle on the issue.

Musk called for a new national inquiry into the rape gangs, as did some politicians. Starmer initially said an inquiry had taken place and the recommendations needed to be implemented, but later changed his position and backed the calls.

Starmer told the BBC that another transparent inquiry would help improve public confidence in authorities. “That, to me, is a practical, common-sense way of doing politics,” he said.

A preliminary report released in June by Baroness Louise Casey said data on the issue was poor and in many cases non-existent, which made determining whether any ethnic group was overrepresented very difficult.

“If you look at the data on child exploitation, suspects and offenders, it is disproportionately Asian heritage,” Casey said. “If you look at the data for child abuse, it is not disproportionate, and it is white men.”

Following Casey’s report, then-Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government had accepted the report’s recommendations, including the strengthening of rape law and protection for children.

Speaking in the House of Commons in June, Cooper added: “While much more robust national data is needed, we cannot and must not shy away from these findings, because, as Baroness Casey says, ignoring the issues, not examining and exposing them to the light, allows the criminality and depravity of a minority of men to be used to marginalise whole communities.”

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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attends a meeting between President Donald Trump and Poland’s President Karol Nawrock in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington D.C., on September 3, 2025. On Monday, the Pentagon announced Hegseth has established a new grooming standard for U.S. service members that targets beards and facial hair. Photo by Aaron Schwartz/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 15 (UPI) — U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is targeting beards and facial hair in the military to establish a new “grooming standard,” as the Pentagon announced Monday that leadership will be required to conduct a review of how service member grooming practices have changed over the past decade.

The “rapid force-wide review of military standards,” requested by Hegseth, according to a Pentagon statement issued Monday, includes “grooming standards for facial hair.”

“The grooming standard set by the U.S. military is to be clean shaven and neat in presentation for a proper military appearance,” Hegseth said, according to the statement by Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell.

“Commanders must apply consistent criteria and appropriately consider the department’s interests in safety and uniformity when authorizing individual exceptions,” Parnell added.

According to Hegseth, shaving waivers will be allowed under a written recommendation by military medical officers, as long as there is a treatment plan. Hegseth also said service members who require a shaving waiver after more than one year of medical treatment will be considered for “separation.”

“As I stated when directing the Rapid Force-Wide Review of Military Standards, the strength of the military is our unity and our shared purpose,” said Hegseth. “The department must remain vigilant in maintaining the grooming standards which underpin the warrior ethos.”

Both President Donald Trump and Hegseth used the term “warrior ethos” earlier this month when renaming the Department of Defense to the Department of War.

“Words matter. Restoring … the warrior ethos. Restoring victory and clarity as an instinct,” Hegseth said Sept. 5, as Trump signed the executive order. A permanent department name change will require Congress to act.

In addition to grooming, Hegseth’s new requirements extend to body composition and physical fitness.

“We must remain vigilant in maintaining the standards that enable the men and women of our military to protect the American people and our homeland as the world’s most lethal and effective fighting force,” Hegseth wrote. “Our adversaries are not growing weaker, and our tasks are not growing less challenging.”

In March, NewsGuard – a company that tracks misinformation – published a report claiming that generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT, were amplifying Russian disinformation. NewsGuard tested leading chatbots using prompts based on stories from the Pravda network – a group of pro-Kremlin websites mimicking legitimate outlets, first identified by the French agency Viginum. The results were alarming: Chatbots “repeated false narratives laundered by the Pravda network 33 percent of the time”, the report said.

The Pravda network, which has a rather small audience, has long puzzled researchers. Some believe that its aim was performative – to signal Russia’s influence to Western observers. Others see a more insidious aim: Pravda exists not to reach people, but to “groom” the large language models (LLMs) behind chatbots, feeding them falsehoods that users would unknowingly encounter.

NewsGuard said in its report that its findings confirm the second suspicion. This claim gained traction, prompting dramatic headlines in The Washington Post, Forbes, France 24, Der Spiegel, and elsewhere.

But for us and other researchers, this conclusion doesn’t hold up. First, the methodology NewsGuard used is opaque: It did not release its prompts and refused to share them with journalists, making independent replication impossible.

Second, the study design likely inflated the results, and the figure of 33 percent could be misleading. Users ask chatbots about everything from cooking tips to climate change; NewsGuard tested them exclusively on prompts linked to the Pravda network. Two-thirds of its prompts were explicitly crafted to provoke falsehoods or present them as facts. Responses urging the user to be cautious about claims because they are not verified were counted as disinformation. The study set out to find disinformation – and it did.

This episode reflects a broader problematic dynamic shaped by fast-moving tech, media hype, bad actors, and lagging research. With disinformation and misinformation ranked as the top global risk among experts by the World Economic Forum, the concern about their spread is justified. But knee-jerk reactions risk distorting the problem, offering a simplistic view of complex AI.

It’s tempting to believe that Russia is intentionally “poisoning” Western AI as part of a cunning plot. But alarmist framings obscure more plausible explanations – and generate harm.

So, can chatbots reproduce Kremlin talking points or cite dubious Russian sources? Yes. But how often this happens, whether it reflects Kremlin manipulation, and what conditions make users encounter it are far from settled. Much depends on the “black box” – that is, the underlying algorithm – by which chatbots retrieve information.

We conducted our own audit, systematically testing ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Grok using disinformation-related prompts. In addition to re-testing the few examples NewsGuard provided in its report, we designed new prompts ourselves. Some were general – for example, claims about US biolabs in Ukraine; others were hyper-specific – for example, allegations about NATO facilities in certain Ukrainian towns.

If the Pravda network was “grooming” AI, we would see references to it across the answers chatbots generate, whether general or specific.

We did not see this in our findings. In contrast to NewsGuard’s 33 percent, our prompts generated false claims only 5 percent of the time. Just 8 percent of outputs referenced Pravda websites – and most of those did so to debunk the content. Crucially, Pravda references were concentrated in queries poorly covered by mainstream outlets. This supports the data void hypothesis: When chatbots lack credible material, they sometimes pull from dubious sites – not because they have been groomed, but because there is little else available.

If data voids, not Kremlin infiltration, are the problem, then it means disinformation exposure results from information scarcity – not a powerful propaganda machine. Furthermore, for users to actually encounter disinformation in chatbot replies, several conditions must align: They must ask about obscure topics in specific terms; those topics must be ignored by credible outlets; and the chatbot must lack guardrails to deprioritise dubious sources.

Even then, such cases are rare and often short-lived. Data voids close quickly as reporting catches up, and even when they persist, chatbots often debunk the claims. While technically possible, such situations are very rare outside of artificial conditions designed to trick chatbots into repeating disinformation.

The danger of overhyping Kremlin AI manipulation is real. Some counter-disinformation experts suggest the Kremlin’s campaigns may themselves be designed to amplify Western fears, overwhelming fact-checkers and counter-disinformation units. Margarita Simonyan, a prominent Russian propagandist, routinely cites Western research to tout the supposed influence of the government-funded TV network, RT, she leads.

Indiscriminate warnings about disinformation can backfire, prompting support for repressive policies, eroding trust in democracy, and encouraging people to assume credible content is false. Meanwhile, the most visible threats risk eclipsing quieter – but potentially more dangerous – uses of AI by malign actors, such as for generating malware reported by both Google and OpenAI.

Separating real concerns from inflated fears is crucial. Disinformation is a challenge – but so is the panic it provokes.

The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

The British government has announced a national inquiry into organised child sexual abuse following the release of a damning report by Baroness Louise Casey that criticised decades of institutional failure to protect children from so-called “grooming gangs”.

It marks a remarkable U-turn by the Labour Party government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer, which had resisted months of calls for an inquiry, stating that it was focusing on recommendations already made in an earlier seven-year probe.

But what exactly is the Casey Report, and what drove Labour’s abrupt change of course?

What is the Casey Report?

Commissioned earlier this year by Starmer, the Casey Report is a review of how United Kingdom institutions have tackled child sexual exploitation.

The review focused on “grooming gangs” – groups of men who targeted vulnerable girls for sexual abuse, often over extended periods of time.

What does the report say?

The report identified an institutional failure to protect children and teenage girls from rape, exploitation and serious violence.

Among its recommendations, the Casey Report suggested a change in the law so adults in England and Wales face mandatory rape charges if they intentionally penetrate a child under age 16.

In her report, Casey concluded that too many grooming cases have been dropped or downgraded from rape to lesser charges because a 13- to 15-year-old is perceived to have been “in love with” or have “consented to” sex with the perpetrator.

Her review also highlighted reluctance by the authorities to “examine the ethnicity of the offenders”, saying it was not racist to do so.

In the local data that the audit examined from three police forces, they identified clear evidence of “over-representation among suspects of Asian and Pakistani-heritage men”.

However, the review also criticised the ongoing failure to collect ethnicity at a national level, with it not recorded for two-thirds of perpetrators, making it impossible “to provide any accurate assessment from the nationally collected data”.

Were the recommendations accepted?

Yes.

The UK’s Home Secretary Yvette Cooper confirmed the government would accept all 12 recommendations in the Casey Report.

This means the police will launch a new national criminal operation targeting grooming gangs, overseen by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

This operation would be overseen by an independent commission with powers to compel witnesses to provide evidence.

It would also go ahead with a national inquiry, with Starmer stating that he had read “every single word” of the report and would accept Casey’s recommendation for an investigation.

What led to Labour’s U-turn?

Richard Scorer, the head of Abuse Law and Public Inquiries at Slater and Gordon, a law firm, told Al Jazeera that the sheer size of the scandal and the fact that it had affected thousands of children made it “inevitable” that there would need to be a public inquiry about it at some point.

US billionaire Elon Musk’s online references to the grooming scandal that emerged a decade ago in several towns and cities in northern England had also pushed the “issue up the political agenda”, he said.

In June 2022, an independent review found that the police and local council had failed to prevent sexual exploitation of young girls by gangs in Oldham, a town in Greater Manchester in England.

Two years later, political leaders in Oldham Council called for the government to investigate further, but then-Home Office Minister Jess Phillips rejected the council’s request, saying it should lead an investigation itself.

In January this year, Musk threw his weight behind far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who goes by the name Tommy Robinson and had been outspoken on the issue.

He called for Robinson, a controversial political figure, then serving an 18-month jail term for contempt of court, to be freed, writing on his own social media platform X, “Why is Tommy Robinson in a solitary confinement prison for telling the truth?”

Musk also accused Starmer of failing to prosecute child rapists when he was director of public prosecutions between 2008 and 2013.

He also took aim at Minister for Safeguarding Jess Phillips, calling her “a rape genocide apologist”.

Starmer responded at the time, without mentioning Musk by name. “Those that are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims, they are interested in themselves,” the PM said.

Will this report bring about change?

Experts say it’s certainly a positive step.

William Tantam, a senior lecturer in anthropology at the University of Bristol, who has worked on a previous independent inquiry into child sexual abuse, said that from a researcher’s perspective, the main positive was that there would be more consistency and clarity in data.

He said that another positive is that inquiry panel will have the authority to compel agencies to participate.

Scorer noted that bringing in the NCA to investigate cases that haven’t progressed in the past is also a very welcome outcome of the report.

He said in the UK, different police forces have not always succeeded in coordinating their efforts to tackle grooming gangs, so a more centralised overview from the NCA might secure “a better coordination of police activity”.

Cooper told Parliament on Monday that more than 800 cases have now been identified for formal review, and she expects that figure to rise above 1,000 in the coming weeks.

But Scorer warned that the government would need to assign an additional budget for the implementation of the changes recommended by Casey.

“If you are asking the NCA to reopen and investigate, potentially up to 1000 cases, that’s going to require a huge amount of resources,” he said. “Who’s going to pay for that? That’s one of the questions that the government is going to need to answer.”

June 15 (UPI) — British officials said Sunday that they have never dismissed reports of child grooming gangs in the country, and vowed to release the results of an investigation Monday.

“These are the most important people in the discussions,” chancellor Rachel Reeves said on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg program.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been criticized for ignoring reports about grooming gangs, and initially appeared to resist an independent investigation, but did agree to open an inquiry after months of pressure from conservatives.

The results of a previous report are to be released Monday, and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is scheduled to address the findings with Parliament.

When promoted, Reeves said Sunday that Starmer has long been focused on the grooming gang activity, and she shifted the blame to the Conservative party that held office prior to Starmer’s election, intimating that the previous administration had not taken action to address the issue, either.

“Our prime minister has always been really focused on the victims, and not grandstanding but actually doing the practical things to ensure something like this never happens again,” she said Sunday.

Maggie Oliver, a former detective with the Greater Manchester Police who resigned over the way the said grooming cases were handled in Rochdale, said both parties have been “dragged kicking and screaming to this point” to address grooming gang allegations.

“For me, I can only look at them with contempt, because I see on the ground the suffering their neglect has caused,” she said on the Sunday program.

A prior report seven years in the making conclude that child sexual abuse was “epidemic” across the nation, and made 20 recommendations in 2022. Advocates said many of the victims have been waiting years for justice.

Interest in the issue was pushed by far-right groups and Elon Musk and branded by critics as a racist dog whistle.

The British government has announced it will hold a national inquiry into organised child sexual abuse after months of resisting the call from opposition groups.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Saturday that he had read “every single word” of an independent report into the sexual assault scandal, also known as the “grooming gangs” case, by Baroness Louise Casey and would accept her recommendation for the investigation.

“That is the right thing to do on the basis of what she [Casey] has put in her audit. I asked her to do that job to double check on this; she has done that job for me and having read her report … I shall now implement her recommendations.” Starmer told reporters travelling with him during a visit to Canada.

Earlier this year, the government dismissed calls for a public inquiry, stating that it was focusing on recommendations already made in a seven-year national inquiry by Professor Alexis Jay.

In 2022, Jay found that there had been institutional failings across the country, affecting tens of thousands of victims in England and Wales.

But the opposition Conservative Party leader, Kemi Badenoch, said Starmer only backs the report because “a report told him to”.

But increased interest into the “grooming gangs” case, as the British press termed it, was pushed by far-right groups, including Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, and further stoked by tech billionaire and Tesla owner Elon Musk, after the perpetrators of one of the most high-profile cases in the country were men of Pakistani heritage.

Their push was branded by critics as a racist dog whistle. The vast majority of “grooming gang” offences, however, are carried out by white men, the UK’s National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said earlier this year.

Musk used his X platform to criticise the British prime minister over not backing a national inquiry after the local authority in Oldham, a town in northern England, found that girls under the age of 18 were sexually exploited by groups of men in the 2000s and 2010s.

Musk also alleged that Starmer did not bring the perpetrators to justice when he was the country’s chief prosecutor between 2008 and 2013, a charge that Starmer had denied repeatedly.

Due to the similarity of the Oldham case to others in several towns, including mainly white girls being abused by men largely from a Pakistani background, the issue has been linked to immigration.