WASHINGTON – The FBI is postponing the debut of an unusual game-style website aimed at preventing young people from joining terrorist groups–because Muslim and Arab groups are complaining.

The program “Don’t Be a Puppet,” scheduled to be released Nov. 9.,  is now on hold. 

The program targets young people with information on how to spot a radical extremist online, and there are hopes by some it would halt youth radicalization and recruitment of American youth for terrorism. 

The FBI wants the program to be used in schools, with teachers guiding students through the game-like format.

Muslim and Arab advocacy groups said they have many concerns. The biggest concern was that the government wants students and teachers to become informants, according to Muslim and Arab advocacy officials.

“It seems like they’re asking teachers to be extensions of law enforcement and to police thought, and students as well. That was very concerning to us all,” Hoda Hawa, director of policy and advocacy for the Muslim Public Affairs Council, called MPAC, said of the site.

The official FBI statement is that the program is “designed to provide awareness about the dangers of violent extremist predators on the Internet…” It has said little else regarding details of the program.

FBI Director James B. Comey said agents have handled more than 900 cases of homegrown extremists, and most of them are connected to ISIS. 

He said the recruiting efforts of terrorists aren’t just trying to lure youth to go overseas, but are also seeking to convince them to commit violent acts in the United States.

The FBI has arrested many young people since the Islamic State was designated a terrorist organization in 2014. 

Reaching young people through public school systems can be done, but officials must be careful on how the program is implemented to be effective, according to Seamus Hughes, deputy director of George Washington University’s program on extremism.

The FBI plans to tell schools that the program is available; and interested schools would use it in civics, social studies and government classes, according to information given to participants at the meeting discussing the program. 

The FBI has allowed some teachers and students in northern Virginia to preview the program and has received some commitments from school districts. Estimates given to those at the meeting are that around 400,000 youths will use the site once it goes online.