Studies find far-right using Telegram, ISIS using Facebook
Pro-ISIS Facebook account: The coronavirus is a soldier of God
By GIL HOFFMANThe Telegram logo is seen on a screen of a smartphone in this picture illustration(photo credit: ILYA NAYMUCHIN)
The social media platform Telegram is being used by far-right extremists to promote hate and violence against Jews, blacks and law enforcement, according to a new study by the Simon Wiesenthal Center.Wiesenthal Center officials indicated that much of their real-time research has been shared with the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and the FBI. The center urged Telegram to introduce clear and comprehensive policy guidelines to stop the proliferation of hate, extremism and terrorism on its social-media platform.“Our researchers found that far-right channels on Telegram are used to glorify terrorist actors and movements, including the murderers of Jews and Muslims at prayer,” Wiesenthal Center associate dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper said. “The sharing of harmful material and incitement to lone-wolf violence regularly occurs on these channels.”The study cited research by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London-based think tank, which found that Telegram channels associated with white supremacy and racism grew by more than 6,000 users during March.The think tank released a study on Monday that found a pro-ISIS account network on Facebook consisting of several hundred accounts and reaching audiences in the tens of thousands.Through ethnographic monitoring, ISD researchers tracked, analyzed and dissected the behaviors of a network of pro-ISIS Facebook accounts, the study said.In early April, the page’s administrators penned a Facebook post that read: “everyone should be of the belief that [the coronavirus] is a soldier of God who is supporting His servants on Earth – the monotheists – whose chests are healed by the extensive death toll of infidels.”
