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Government's Interior Department Issues Alert on Rising Right-Wing Extremism on Telegram Messaging Platform

Internet right-wing extremists pose growing threat, Interior Ministry warns due to reported discussions in extremist chat groups

Government's Interior Department Issues Alert on Growing Right-Wing Extremism on Telegram App
Government's Interior Department Issues Alert on Growing Right-Wing Extremism on Telegram App

Government's Interior Department Issues Alert on Rising Right-Wing Extremism on Telegram Messaging Platform

In recent years, both security authorities and civil society institutions have confirmed that the internet, particularly platforms like Telegram, is being increasingly used as an instrument for networking, mobilization, and radicalization of right-wing extremists.

A current study by the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (Cemas) has found an active neo-Nazi subculture on the net, which promotes attacks and acts of sabotage. This subculture, referred to as "Terrorgram" within the scene, is a growing concern.

The Federal Ministry of the Interior has observed that right-wing extremists recruit new followers and mobilize sympathizers on various internet platforms, including classic social networks, microblogging services, gaming platforms, and so-called image boards. Telegram, in particular, has emerged as a central platform for the networking and mobilization of right-wing extremist actors.

Right-wing extremists are using Telegram for recruitment, spreading violent propaganda, organizing protests, and doxxing (publishing private information of opponents). They circulate calls for violence, share false narratives, and create echo chambers to radicalize and mobilize followers, especially targeting youth through encrypted and anonymous channels.

Key ways Telegram is used by right-wing extremists include promoting violent extremist rhetoric and calls to action, sharing misinformation and doxxing protest organizers to intimidate and threaten, creating communities for spreading radical ideologies where censorship is limited, allowing rapid recruitment, and targeting youth with glorification of violence via Telegram groups.

Measures taken to combat this issue involve Telegram’s efforts to remove extremist content, banning accounts associated with military propaganda or extremist use, researchers and security agencies highlighting the digital radicalization threat to inform policy and develop targeted countermeasures, and the cooperation of organizations like Saudi Arabia’s Etidal center to remove over 59 million pieces of extremist content from the platform since 2022.

However, Telegram’s stated policy favors privacy and minimal censorship, which extremists exploit, making suppression of extremist activity challenging and often reactive rather than proactive. Experts emphasize the particular risk posed to youth radicalization via Telegram and other platforms, calling for enhanced monitoring and preventive strategies to address this growing threat.

The spokesperson for the Federal Ministry of the Interior has noted that Telegram has developed into a "kind of anchor and meeting point" for various right-wing extremist scenes in recent years, according to the assessment of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV). A study by the Center for Monitoring, Analysis and Strategy (Cemas) also confirms the increasing potential danger posed by right-wing extremists on the internet. Right-wing extremists are not only using the internet for networking but also for active recruitment and mobilization.

The Federal Ministry of the Interior has issued a warning about the growing threat of right-wing extremists on the internet, emphasizing the deliberate use of social media for networking within the right-wing extremist scene. Right-wing extremists are using social media to spread hate, incitement, racist, anti-Semitic, and anti-democratic propaganda.

  1. The growing concern of "Terrorgram", an active neo-Nazi subculture on the internet, is not only using Telegram for networking, but also for recruitment and mobilization of right-wing extremists, as noted by the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
  2. Besides spreading violent propaganda and organizing protests, right-wing extremists are also using Telegram channels to doxx opponents, as well as creating echo chambers to radicalize and mobilize followers, especially targeting youth through encrypted and anonymous channels.

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