As the presidential election approaches, a recently designated neo-Nazi terrorist group is covertly seeding violent propaganda on to mainstream social media channels – exposing tens of thousands of unknowing followers to radicalizing messages – according to background research and a report provided to the Guardian by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). One of those channels on Telegram purports to be associated with Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, with an administrator claiming in group chats discovered by ISD to have had direct contact with the longtime Trump ally who is well-known for playing footsie with extremists and admitting to fomenting revolution. The UK government listed the Terrogram collective as an official terrorist entity in April. The move spiked public interest in the shadowy network of violent neo-Nazi propagandists on Telegram that preaches accelerationism, which demands followers hasten the collapse of society through acts of terrorism. Terrorgram has already had success inspiring adherents. The Bratislava shooter who killed two people outside of a gay bar in 2022 cited it in his manifesto. Just last week, a teenage suspected supporter in Turkey carried out a mass stabbing at a mosque. Followers of Terrorgram in Canada and in the US have already been subject to terrorism-related charges in recent years. “The Terrorgram’s use of non-overt spaces serves to expose a wider audience to terrorist content, which risks drawing unsuspecting subscribers of these larger channels into more overtly violent extremist communities,” wrote Steven Rai, an analyst who monitors the far right and authored the report at the extremist watchdog, in the report. Rai says there are three channels masquerading under the guise of acceptable rightwing content, sharing clips from CNN and MSNBC, but then occasionally sharing conspiratorial content and racist or violent memes. But the administrators of the channels, who he suggests are alleged Terrorgram operatives looking to indoctrinate people, then tell followers to go further down the propaganda rabbit hole and join the chaotic group chats that push harsher ideas.
via guardian: Neo-Nazi terrorist group using Steve Bannon account to radicalize people