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This story is part of a collaboration FRONTLINE and ProPublica, which includes an upcoming documentary.
A recent crackdown by social media platform Telegram has sparked waves of panic among neo-Nazis, who have made the app a headquarters for inciting hatred and plotting violence.
“Shut it down,” one person posted in a white supremacist chat on Tuesday, hours after Telegram founder Pavel Durov. announced that it will begin sharing the identifying information of some users with law enforcement agencies.
With more than 900 million users worldwide, Telegram is both revered and reviled for its hands-on approach to moderating posted content. The platform made headlines this summer when French authorities arrested Durov and wanted to prosecute him for illegal activities carried out or facilitated on the platform – including organized drug trafficking, child pornography and fraud.
Durov called the accusations “false”. But he acknowledged that criminals had abused the platform and promised in a Telegram post that they would “significantly improve things in this regard.” Durov’s announcement marked a significant policy change: Telegram will now share the IP address and phone number of users who violate the platform’s rules with authorities “in response to a legitimate legal request.”
It was the second time in weeks that extremists have called on their brothers and sisters to leave Telegram. The first panic attack was followed by the Justice Department’s indictment of two alleged leaders of the Terrorgram Collective. This is a group of white supremacists accused of inciting others to commit racist murders on the platform.
“EVERYONE LEAVE THE CHAT,” the administrator of the Terrorgram Collective-affiliated group chat posted the day the indictment was announced.
However, analysis by ProPublica and FRONTLINE shows that despite the early wave of panic, users did not initially abandon the platform. Instead, activity on channels and chats aligned with Terrorgram increased as the group’s allies tried to rally support for their arrested peers, protest government actions, and try to root out users believed to be federal agents.
US federal prosecutors have charged Dallas Humber and Matthew Allison, the two alleged leaders of the Terrorgram Collective, with a number of crimes, including calling for the assassination of government officials on Telegram.
Humber pleaded not guilty. On September 13, he made a brief appearance in federal court in Sacramento, California, during which he was denied bail. Humber, handcuffed and dressed in orange and white prison garb, said nothing. Allison, who has yet to enter a plea, was arrested in Idaho but will be arraigned in California.
Attorneys for Humber and Allison did not respond to separate requests for comment.
According to the indictment, the two are alleged accelerationists, a subgroup of white supremacists whose goal is to hasten the collapse of today’s liberal democracies and replace them with all-white ethno-states.
Through linked Telegram channels, the collective distributes books, audio recordings, videos, posters and calendars in memory of white supremacist mass murderers such as Brenton Tarrant, who stormed two mosques in New Zealand in early 2019 and shot dead 51 Muslim worshippers.
The group specifically seeks to encourage similar attacks by offering would-be terrorists tips and tools to carry out spectacular acts of violence and sabotage. For example, a now-defunct channel allegedly operated by Humber contained instructions on how to make massive amounts of high explosives. After their arrest, the channels allegedly run by Humber and Allison went silent.
But within days of the indictment, an anonymous Telegram user created a new channel “to provide updates on their situation.”
“I understand that some may not like these two, however their arrest and possible prosecution affects us all,” the user wrote. They argue that the criminal case shows that Telegram is under attack worldwide.
The channel referred to Humber and Allison under their alleged Telegram usernames Ryder_Returns and Btc.
A long-running neo-Nazi channel with over 13,000 subscribers posted a lengthy prank. “We are very saddened to hear that these arrests are a blatant overreach of government power,” stated the poster, who used coded language to suggest that white supremacists must violently overthrow the US government.
A group closely linked to the Terrorgram Collective has warned like-minded followers that federal agents may be lurking. In one post, he wrote that he had been in contact with Humber since his arrest and had given them information about an undercover FBI agent who had infiltrated the Accelerationist scene.
“If this person is in your chats, remove them,” one post said, referring to the alleged agent. “Don’t threaten them.” Don’t tell them anything. Just remove them from contacts and chats.”
Matthew Kriner, executive director of the Accelerationism Research Consortium, said the Terrorgram Collective has already been severely weakened by a series of arrests in the United States, Europe and Canada over the past two years. “Overall, the arrests of Humber and Allison represent the final blow to the Terrorgram Collective,” Kriner said.
In the United States, federal agents have arrested at least two people this year who were allegedly inspired by the group. The first was Alexander Lightner, a 26-year-old construction worker who was caught in a raid on his Florida home in January. In a series of Telegram posts, Lightner said he was planning a racially or ethnically motivated mass murder, according to prosecutors. Court records show agents found a manual produced by the Terrorgram Collective and a copy of “Mein Kampf” at Lightner’s home.
Lightner pleaded not guilty to charges of online threats and possession of an illegal handgun silencer. His lawyer declined to comment.
This summer, prosecutors indicted Andrew Takhistov of New Jersey for urging a private individual to destroy a power plant. Takhistov allegedly shared a PDF copy of another Terrorgram publication with an undercover agent. The 261-page manual contains detailed instructions for making explosives and encourages readers to destabilize society through murder and industrial sabotage. Takhistov has not submitted a submission yet. His attorney did not respond to a request for comment.
Durov’s arrest in August also caused fear in the extremist scene. “It’s over,” declared one user of a white supremacy chat group.
– Does this mean I have to close my Telegram account? asked another member of the group. “I just got it.”
Their concern grew when The telegram removed the language from the FAQ page, according to which the company does not comply with law enforcement requests regarding users participating in Telegram private chats.
Telegram Accelerationists alarmedly discussed the feasibility of finding another online sanctuary. Some believed that Signal was a messaging service, but others warned that it was likely run by US intelligence agencies. One post advised users to switch to more obscure, encrypted messaging apps like Briar and Session.
In extreme circles, after Durov’s announcement this week, there was more talk of running away from Telegram. “Time is running out on this sinking ship,” one user wrote. “So we’re leaving Telegram?” asked another.
“Every time we have success against one of them, they learn, they adapt, they change,” said Don Robinson, who as an FBI agent conducted infiltration operations against white supremacists. “Extremists can simply pick up and move to a new platform after being de-platformed for content abuse. So law enforcement and intelligence agencies play an endless game of Whac-a-Mole to identify where the next threat might come from.”