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Terrorgram (sometimes stylised inall caps)[2] is a far-right, decentralized network[1] ofTelegram channels and accounts that subscribe to or promote militantaccelerationism. Terrorgram channels areneo-fascist in ideology, and regularly share instructions and manuals on how to carry out hate crimes, mass shootings and target critical infrastructure and even lists of potential targets. Terrorgram is a key communications forum for individuals and networks attached toAtomwaffen Division,The Base, and other explicit militant accelerationist groups.[3][4]
In 2021, theInstitute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), an international think-tank, exposed more than 200neo-Nazi pro-terrorism Telegram channels that make up the Terrorgram network, many of which contained instructions for building weapons and bombs.[2][5][6] Telegramshadowbans channels promoting violence, but according toSouthern Poverty Law Center such channels grew exponentially despite Telegram's policing, one accelerationist channel boasting 16,552 followers.[7] In January 2025, Terrorgram was designated a global terrorist organization by United States Department of State.[8][9] On February 2, 2025, Australia announced terrorism sanctions against Terrorgram.[10]
A major influence on Terrorgram was the neo-Nazi web forumIron March, linked to both the proscribed UK-based groupNational Action, and the US-foundedAtomwaffen Division according to theCombating Terrorism Center.[11] 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 bookSiege by American neo-NaziJames Mason, a work promoting the establishment of underground, leaderlessterrorist 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 visualpropaganda 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 ofesotericism andoccultism woven into Terrorgram propaganda, lending a mystic sheen to the movement.Esoteric Hitlerism is frequently referenced.[12][13] Terrorgram grew in large part from the defunct Iron March and Fascist Forge.[14]
TheGlobal 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 ofschool shooters andserial 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 Behring Breivik,Timothy McVeigh,Charles Manson andDylann Roof.[2] The five criteria required to become a saint include being ofwhite 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 ofwhite supremacy.[15][16][17][18]
Following the ideological standard ofSiege andThe 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 calledHard Reset which glorifies white supremacist attacks and gives explanations for sector-specific critical infrastructure targeting.[19]
In June 2021, the collective published a guide online with incitements for attacks on infrastructure and violence againstminorities,police, public figures,journalists and other perceived enemies. In December 2021, they published a second document containing ideological sections on accelerationism,white supremacy, andecofascism, together with practical instructions.[20][21][15]
A 24-minute video titledWhite 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 the2019 Christchurch shooting and2022 Buffalo attack videos in addition to news clips.[22]
In March 2023, Dallas Erin Humber was found to be the narrator of the Terrorgram videos.[23]
On 28 December 2023, Terrorgram published a manual for the improvised manufacture of explosives usingurea nitrate.[24]
| Year | Occurrence | Location | Killed | Wounded | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Abundant Life Christian School shooting | Madison,United States | 3 | 6 | [25][26][27] |
| 2022 | Aracruz school shootings | Aracruz,Brazil | 4 | 11 | [28][29] |
| 2025 | Antioch High School shooting | Nashville, United States | 2 | 1 | [25][30][27] |
| 2022 | Bratislava shooting | Bratislava, Slovakia | 3 | 1 | [25][31] |
| 2024 | Eskişehir mosque stabbing | Eskisehir, Turkey | 0 | 5 | [25][32][27] |
The United Kingdom added Terrorgram collective to the list of proscribed organizations in April 2024.[33][34][35] Home SecretaryJames Cleverly stated that "The Terrorgram collective spreads vile propaganda and aims to radicalise young people to conduct heinous terrorist acts".[36]
On 8 December 2023, two Ontario men were charged with making propaganda for Terrorgram and for terrorism offenses.[37] 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.[38] 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.[39]
A 29-year-old man fromIshøj,Denmark was arrested on December 9, 2024 and charged with nine counts of inciting terrorism for his promotion of Terrorgram material. The man also shared a communique fromBrandon Russell, the founder of the terror group Atomwaffen.[40]
On January 13, 2025 theUnited States Department of State designated Terrorgram as a terrorist organization and sanctioned its leaders Ciro Daniel Amorim Ferreira, Noah Licul and Hendrik-Wahl Muller.[9]
The Australian foreign affairs minister,Penny Wong, stated on February 2, 2025, that terrorism sanctions had been placed on the Terrorgram network.[10]
As of February 2025, there are over two dozen Terrorgram cases around the world. In the United StatesBrandon Russell and Sarah Beth Clandaniel were charged with conspiring to bomb the electric infrastructure of Baltimore to cause a blackout. Both were subsequently convicted. Russell and Clandaniel were active in Terrorgram.[25]
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{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)There are currently more than two dozen Terrorgram-related cases active in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and South America. The group is accused of inspiring the 2022 mass shooting in Slovakia, a knife attack in Turkey, and recent school shootings in Madison, Wisconsin, and Antioch, Tennessee.
Henderson shared instructions on how to perpetrate attacks on social media from a Terrorgram Collective publication...Küçükyetim, meanwhile, shared PDFs of three Terrorgram publications on Telegram...Through his participation in overlapping fringe internet subcultures where members use multiple social media platforms to celebrate white supremacist mass murder, dabble in the occult and engage in degrading interpersonal drama, Henderson connected online with 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who fatally shot a fellow student and teacher before taking her own life in Madison, WI, in December.
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.