Terrorgram

Last updated

Logo of Terrorgram, which is a combination of the Telegram app logo and Waffen-SS insignia Terrorgram logo.svg
Logo of Terrorgram, which is a combination of the Telegram app logo and Waffen-SS insignia

Terrorgram (sometimes stylised in all caps) [2] refers to a decentralized network [1] of Telegram channels and accounts that subscribe to or promote militant accelerationism. Terrorgram channels are neo-fascist in ideology, and regularly share instructions and manuals on how to carry out acts of racially-motivated violence [ clarification needed ] and anti-government terrorism. Terrorgram is a key communications forum for individuals and networks attached to Atomwaffen Division, The Base, and other explicit militant accelerationist groups. [3]

Contents

In 2021, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), an international think-tank, exposed more than 200 neo-Nazi pro-terrorism Telegram channels that make up the Terrorgram network, many of which contained instructions for building weapons and bombs. [2] [4] [5] Telegram shadowbans channels promoting violence, but according to Southern Poverty Law Center such channels grew exponentially despite Telegram's policing, one accelerationist channel boasting 16,552 followers. [6] In September 2024, the United States announced charges against the two alleged leaders of the network. [7]

Origins

A major influence on Terrorgram was the neo-Nazi web forum Iron March, linked to both the proscribed UK-based group National Action, and the US-founded Atomwaffen Division according to the Combating Terrorism Center. [8] Despite having little over 1,200 users when it shut down in November 2017, Iron March, as a forum, has had an outsized influence on modern neo-Nazism. It popularised the book Siege by American neo-Nazi James Mason, a work promoting the establishment of underground, leaderless terrorist cells, working towards destabilising society and ushering in revolution. Iron March was also key in the development of the “terrorwave” aesthetic, a distinctive form of visual propaganda that communicates a message of terrorist violence. Rendered in red, white and black, the style often incorporates images of historical fascists, terrorists or paramilitaries wearing skull masks, with esoteric far-right symbols and simplistic slogans, such as "TRAITORS WILL HANG" and "RAPE THE POLICE". There is also a strong strain of esotericism and occultism woven into Terrorgram propaganda, lending a mystic sheen to the movement. Esoteric Hitlerism is frequently referenced. [9] [10]

Sanctification

The Global Network on Extremism and Technology refers to Terrorgram and the broader ecosystem that it belongs to as "a 'dark fandom' that venerates and valorizes extreme-right terrorists as 'saints' and 'martyrs' in a manner similar to the heroization of school shooters and serial killers". [3] In the event of an accelerationist, supremacist or neo-Nazi attack, Terrorgram sees the members of the collective engaged in the search for signs attesting to the ideological closeness in order to sanctify the attacker. The sanctification of a terrorist leads to their entry into the pantheon of terrorist-saints that are taken as models by Terrorgram. Among these, some can be identified who can be considered as founders of the ideological core, so-called founding saints: Brenton Tarrant, Theodore Kaczynski, Anders Breivik, Timothy McVeigh, Charles Manson and Dylann Roof. [2] The five criteria required to become a saint include being of white race, conducting a deliberate attack, having motive to kill those who "threaten the white race," a "score" of killing at least one, and sharing the ideology of white supremacy. [11] [12] [13] [14]

Publications

Following the ideological standard of Siege and The Turner Diaries , detailed instructions for attacking critical infrastructure are found in white supremacist manuals and propaganda distributed over Terrorgram channels. Terrorgram issued the third instalment of a digital magazine series called Hard Reset which glorifies white supremacist attacks and gives explanations for sector-specific critical infrastructure targeting. [15]

In June 2021, the collective published a guide online with incitements for attacks on infrastructure and violence against minorities, police, public figures, journalists and other perceived enemies. In December 2021, they published a second document containing ideological sections on accelerationism, white supremacy, and ecofascism, together with practical instructions. [16] [17] [11]

A 24-minute video titled White Terror, made by Terrorgram, was originally released on 14 October 2022. It celebrates dozens of individuals who committed acts of violence and terrorism from 1968 to the present against the government, police officers, women, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ people, leftists, journalists, and medical professionals. In addition to praising the perpetrators and referring to them as "saints," the video encourages further acts of terrorism, stating that future attacks will be honored. The video contains footage taken from the 2019 Christchurch shooting and 2022 Buffalo attack videos in addition to news clips. [18]

In March 2023, Dallas Erin Humber was found to be the narrator of the Terrorgram videos. [19]

In 28 December 2023, Terrorgram published a manual for the improvised manufacture of explosives using breastmilk. [20]

Reaction

The United Kingdom added Terrorgram collective to the list of proscribed organizations in April 2024. [21] [22] [23] Home Secretary James Cleverly stated that "The Terrorgram collective spreads vile propaganda and aims to radicalise young people to conduct heinous terrorist acts". [24]

On 8 December 2023, two Ontario men were charged with making propaganda for Terrorgram and for terrorism offenses. [25] On September 9, 2024 US prosecutors in California charged Dallas Erin Humber, 34, and Matthew Robert Allison, 37, accused of leading the "Terrorgram" network with soliciting hate crimes, soliciting the murder of Federal officials, and conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. If convicted Humber and Allison each face a maximum penalty of 220 years in prison. [26] New Jersey man Andrew Takhistov is charged with plotting an attack on energy infrastructure and a synagogue. Takhistov stated that he was involved in the production of Terrorgram propaganda. [27]

A 29-year-old man from Ishøj, Denmark was arrested on December 9, 2024 and charged with 9 counts of inciting terrorism for his promotion of Terrorgram material. The man also shared a communique from Brandon Russell, the founder of the terror group Atomwaffen. [28]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Mason (neo-Nazi)</span> American Nazi

James Nolan Mason is an American neo-Nazi. Mason is an ideologue for the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi terrorist organization. After growing disillusioned with the mass movement approach of neo-Nazi movements, he began advocating for a white supremacist revolution through terrorism. He was referred to as the "Godfather of Fascist Terrorism" in the Fair Observer. He has been convicted of assault and weapons charges, as well as charged with sexual exploitation and possession of pornographic images of a minor. In 2021, Mason was one of only two individuals sanctioned by the Canadian Government on its list of terror-related entities.

Ecofascism is a term used to describe individuals and groups which combine environmentalism with fascism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Domestic terrorism in the United States</span> Incidents of American terrorism

In the United States, domestic terrorism is defined as terrorist acts that were carried out within the United States by U.S. citizens and/or U.S. permanent residents. As of 2021, the United States government considers white supremacists to be the top domestic terrorism threat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Right-wing terrorism</span>

Right-wing terrorism, hard right terrorism, extreme right terrorism or far-right terrorism is terrorism that is motivated by a variety of different right-wing and far-right ideologies. It can be motivated by Ultranationalism, neo-Nazism, anti-communism, neo-fascism, ecofascism, ethnonationalism, religious nationalism, anti-immigration, anti-semitism, anti-government sentiment, patriot movements, sovereign citizen beliefs, and occasionally, it can be motivated by opposition to abortion, and homophobia. Modern right-wing terrorism largely emerged in Western Europe in the 1970s, and after the Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, it emerged in Eastern Europe and Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nordic Resistance Movement</span> Pan-Nordic neo-Nazi movement

The Nordic Resistance Movement is a pan-Nordic neo-Nazi movement in the Nordic countries and a political party in Sweden. Besides Sweden, it is established in Norway, Denmark and Iceland, and formerly in Finland before it was banned in 2019. Terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp has described the NRM as a terrorist organization due to their aim of abolishing democracy along with their paramilitary activities and weapons caches. In 2022, some members of the United States Congress began calling for the organization to be added to the United States Department of State list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. On 14 June 2024, the United States Department of State designated NRM and its leaders as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT).

Accelerationism is a range of revolutionary and reactionary ideas in left-wing and right-wing ideologies that call for the drastic intensification of capitalist growth, technological change, infrastructure sabotage and other processes of social change to destabilize existing systems and create radical social transformations, otherwise referred to as "acceleration". It has been regarded as an ideological spectrum divided into mutually contradictory left-wing and right-wing variants, both of which support the indefinite intensification of capitalism and its structures as well as the conditions for a technological singularity, a hypothetical point in time at which technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible.

<i>Siege</i> (Mason book) Book collecting the articles of American neo-Nazi James Mason

Siege is an anthology of essays first published as a single volume in 1992, written in 1980s by James Mason, a neo-Nazi and associate of the cult leader Charles Manson. After growing disillusioned with the mass movement approach of neo-Nazi movements, he began advocating for white revolution through terrorism. Referred to as the "Godfather of Fascist Terrorism", Mason has been proscribed as a "terrorist entity" in Canada.” Mason originally wrote the essays for the eponymous newsletter of the National Socialist Liberation Front, a militant splinter of the American Nazi Party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atomwaffen Division</span> International neo-Nazi terrorist network

The Atomwaffen Division, also known as the National Socialist Resistance Front, was an international far-right extremist and neo-Nazi terrorist network. Formed in 2013 and based in the Southern United States, it expanded across the United States and it had also expanded into the United Kingdom, Argentina, Canada, Germany, the Baltic states, and other European countries. The group was described as a part of the alt-right by some journalists, but it rejected the label and it was considered extreme even within that movement. Atomwaffen was described as "one of the most violent neo-Nazi movements in the 21st century". It was listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), and it was also designated as a terrorist group by multiple governments, including the United Kingdom and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antipodean Resistance</span> Australian neo-Nazi hate group

Antipodean Resistance (AR) is an Australian neo-Nazi hate group. The group, formed in October 2016, uses the slogan "We're the Hitlers you've been waiting for" and makes use of Nazi symbols such as the swastika and the Nazi salute. AR's logo features the Black Sun and Totenkopf with an Akubra hat, a laurel wreath and a swastika.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Base (hate group)</span> American, neo-Nazi, paramilitary training organization

The Base is a white supremacist and neo-Nazi accelerationist paramilitary group and training network, formed in 2018 by Rinaldo Nazzaro. It is active in the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and Europe, and designated as a terrorist organization in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and the European Union.

The Russian Imperial Movement is a Russian ultranationalist and white supremacist militant organization which operates out of Russia. The group seeks to create a new Russian Empire. Its paramilitary wing is the Russian Imperial Legion. During the Donbas War, it recruited and trained thousands of far-right volunteers who joined the Russian separatist forces in Ukraine. It has also given training to other far-right groups in Europe and North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iron March</span> Neo-fascist and Neo-Nazi web forum

Iron March was a far-right neo-fascist and Neo-Nazi web forum. The site opened in 2011 and attracted neo-fascist and Neo-Nazi members, including militants from organized far-right groups and members who would later go on to commit acts of terror. The forum closed in 2017. Subsequently, former users moved to alternative websites and social networking services, such as Discord. In 2019, an anonymous individual leaked the database that hosted all Iron March content.

Far-right terrorism in Australia refers to far-right-ideologically influenced terrorism on Australian soil. Far-right extremist groups have existed in Australia since the early 20th century, however the intensity of terrorist activities have oscillated until the present time. A surge of neo-Nazism based terrorism occurred in Australia during the 1960s and the 1970s, carried out primarily by members of the Ustaše organisation. However in the 21st century, a rise in jihadism, the White genocide conspiracy theory, and after effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have fuelled far-right terrorism in Australia. Both the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP) are responsible for responding to far-right terrorist threats in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aracruz school shootings</span> Spree shooting at two schools in Aracruz, Brazil

The Aracruz school shootings was a shooting spree that occurred on November 25, 2022, at two schools in Aracruz, Espírito Santo, Brazil. Four people were killed, and 11 others were injured. The perpetrator, Gabriel Rodrigues Castiglioni, a 16-year-old former student at one of the schools, was arrested approximately four hours later.

Patrick Gordon Macdonald is a Canadian Neo-Nazi graphic designer, who uses the pseudonym Dark Foreigner.

The Active Club Network are decentralized cells of white supremacy and neo-Nazi groups active in many U.S. states, with multiple chapters in other nations. Largely inspired by the defunct street-fighting Rise Above Movement formed by Robert Rundo in 2017 and hooliganism, the network was created in January 2021 and promotes mixed martial arts to fight against what it asserts is a system that is targeting the white race, as well as a "warrior spirit" to prepare for a forthcoming race war. Some extremism researchers have characterized the network as a "shadow or stand-by army" which is awaiting activation as the need for it arises.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White jihad</span> Adoption by white supremacists of jihadist methods, narratives and aesthetics

White jihad is a political neologism for white supremacists' adoption of jihadist methods, narratives and aesthetic.

<i>Harassment Architecture</i> 2019 novella by Mike Ma

Harassment Architecture is a 2019 novella, self-published and written by far-right online influencer Mike Ma. A sequel, Gothic Violence, was published in 2021. It follows an unnamed protagonist who wishes to destroy the United States. Some sections are narrative, while others are more ranting or political discourse. It is popular among the online far-right, particularly among ecofascists and in the decentralized series of fascist Telegram channels known as Terrorgram. The book contains ecofascist, white nationalist, and militant accelerationist themes and content, espousing several conspiracy theories including that of the Great Replacement.

According to a report by the civil rights group the Southern Poverty Law Center the Order of Nine Angles "holds an important position in the niche, international nexus of occult, esoteric, and/or satanic neo-Nazi groups." Several newspapers have reported that the O9A is linked to a number of high-profile figures from the far right and that the group is affiliated and shares members with neo-Nazi terrorist groups such as Atomwaffen Division and proscribed National Action, Sonnenkrieg Division, Combat 18 and Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM). Also the leader of the eco-extremist terrorist Individualists Tending to the Wild claimed to have been influenced by the O9A.

References

Notes

    Citations

    1. 1 2 "Terrorgram". Anti-Defamation League . 25 April 2024.
    2. 1 2 3 "TERRORGRAM: from Buffalo to Bratislava". Italian Team for Security, Terroristic Issues & Managing Emergencies. 23 November 2022. Archived from the original on 6 October 2023. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
    3. 1 2 "Analysing Terrorgram Publications: A New Digital Zine". Global Network on Extremism and Technology. 23 November 2022. Archived from the original on 12 November 2023. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
    4. ↑ "Telegram Is Leaving a Terrorist Bomb-Making Channel Online". Vice News . 23 November 2022. Archived from the original on 7 November 2023. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
    5. ↑ "Telegram blocks 'dozens' of hardcore hate channels". TechCrunch . 23 November 2022. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
    6. ↑ "How an Encrypted Messaging Platform is Changing Extremist Movements". Southern Poverty Law Center . 18 October 2024.
    7. ↑ Anderson, Nate (10 September 2024). ""HAIL HOLY TERROR": Two US citizens charged for running online "Terrorgram Collective"". Ars Technica . Retrieved 11 September 2024.
    8. ↑ Upchurch, H. E. (22 December 2021). Cruickshank, Paul; Hummel, Kristina (eds.). "The Iron March Forum and the Evolution of the "Skull Mask" Neo-Fascist Network" (PDF). CTC Sentinel . 14 (10). West Point, New York: Combating Terrorism Center: 27–37. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 December 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
    9. ↑ "The Terrorgram Network: A Spiral Towards Bloodshed". Hope Not Hate . 23 November 2022.
    10. ↑ "How Telegram became a safe haven for pro-terror Nazis". Wired . 23 November 2022.
    11. 1 2 "Flash Alert: High Risk of Violence With the Publication of "The Hard Reset: A Terrorgram Publication". The Counterterrorism Group, Inc. 7 July 2022. Archived from the original on 11 August 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
    12. ↑ "Militant Accelerationist Coalitions" (PDF). Tech Against Terrorism. 23 November 2022.
    13. ↑ "Bratislava Terrorist Radicalized On Terrorgram, Its Members Take Credit". Vsquare. 23 November 2022.
    14. ↑ "How an Encrypted Messaging Platform is Changing Extremist Movements". Southern Poverty Law Centre . 23 November 2022.
    15. ↑ "Mayhem, Murder, and Misdirection: Violent Extremist Attack Plots Against Critical Infrastructure in the United States, 2016-2022" (PDF). Program on Extremism - THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY. 23 November 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 7 December 2022. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
    16. ↑ "EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report 2022" (PDF). Europol . 23 November 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 July 2022.
    17. ↑ Carless, Will (5 July 2022). "The extremist watchers: How a network of researchers is searching for the next hate-fueled attack". Phys.org . Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2022.
    18. ↑ "Extremist Content Online: Bratislava Attacker's Manifesto Removed From The Internet Archive". Counter Extremism Project . 23 November 2022.
    19. ↑ "Exposed: Dallas Humber, Narrator Of Neo-Nazi 'Terrorgram,' Promoter Of Mass Shootings". Huffington Post . 3 May 2023.
    20. ↑ "The Terrorgram Collective Published an Instructional Manual on How to use Breastmilk to Manufacture Urea-Nitrate Based Explosives". TRAC . 28 December 2023.
    21. ↑ "Online neo-nazi group 'Terrorgram' banned by MPs". Metro.co.uk . 25 April 2024.
    22. ↑ "Terrorgram added to list of proscribed terrorist organisations". gov.uk. 24 April 2024.
    23. ↑ "Terrorgram collective now proscribed as terrorist organisation". gov.uk. 26 April 2024. Retrieved 18 November 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
    24. ↑ "Britain to proscribe Terrorgram collective as terrorist organisation". Reuters . 24 April 2024. Archived from the original on 23 April 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
    25. ↑ "Two Ontario men arrested on Terrorism charges". Yahoo . 8 December 2023. Archived from the original on 30 August 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024.
    26. ↑ "Leaders of Transnational Terrorist Group Charged with Soliciting Hate Crimes, Soliciting the Murder of Federal Officials, and Conspiring to Provide Material Support to Terrorists". justice.gov. 11 September 2024.
    27. ↑ "'Terrorgram' Charges Show US Has Had Tools to Crack Down on Far-Right Terrorism All Along". Wired. 14 September 2024.
    28. ↑ "Mand sigtet for at fremme terrorvirksomhed på Telegram". Berlingske . 11 December 2024.
    29. ↑ "Brazilian court bans Telegram for failing to hand over data from neo-Nazi groups". Engadget . 3 May 2023.
    30. ↑ "Terrorgram, a network of neo-Nazi channels, is spreading across Brazil". Nucleo. 29 August 2024. Archived from the original on 11 September 2024. Retrieved 11 September 2024. These radical and extremist propagandas from Terrorgram have real-world effects. In 2022, a 16-year-old Brazilian teenager killed four people in a school attack in Aracruz, Espírito Santo. It was discovered that the teenager had been radicalized through Telegram channels connected to the collective.
    This page is based on this Wikipedia article
    Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
    Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.