The U.K. is facing its own January 6th moment as far-right protestors rampage through the country’s streets in response to the murder of three young girls late last month in the town of Southport.
The race-based riots have variously been called hate crimes and pogroms, as vandals attack people of color, destroy buildings, and set fire to hotels that house asylum seekers. So far, hundreds of Britons have been arrested for taking part.
And while much of the blame has been levied at X because that’s where much of the footage of the riots has been shared, the rioting is being fomented on another platform altogether: Telegram.
“Telegram is often used for purposes like these, coordinating hate campaigns,” says Carolina Are, a Center for Digital Citizens innovation fellow at Northumbria University. “Basically what seems to be happening is that harassment starts on apps like Telegram, and then it bleeds onto other platforms, or in this case, even offline.”
Fast Company has seen Telegram groups accessed by tens of thousands of subscribers that are sharing locations for planned far-right gatherings, as well as guides on how to set fire to buildings to cause as much damage as possible. Telegram did not respond to Fast Company’s request to comment.
The slightly fringe position that Telegram occupies in the social media space makes it a prime place for such activities to be organized. It’s far enough away from most people’s perception of social media to allow space to debate contentious, hateful issues, while also being a place where enough like-minded people gather.
The app, founded by Russian-born entrepreneur Pavel Durov and run out of Dubai, claims 700 million active users. “Although Telegram offers a robust privacy focused messaging tool, it also offers a darker side and is often utilized by cybercriminals,” says Jake Moore, a global cybersecurity advisor at ESET, a European cybersecurity company.
Moore calls Telegram “effectively the dark web app of the open web”. Among its benefits are that “it offers near perfect secrecy to those who require privacy and offers a secure platform for those wanting to remain hidden in the digital shadows,” he says. “Therefore, Telegram could potentially be used by those wanting to inflame the already high tensions and remain anonymous.”
But the app’s central role in the conflagration hitting the U.K. could well cause issues for Telegram in the long run. Already, politicians have called for stronger social media regulation in light of the riots—with U.K. prime minister Keir Starmer leading the charge.
“As crucial as it is to have apps that are not Meta-owned and to avoid the monopoly of platforms like Meta, it does seem like Telegram has become a space for harassment,” says Are.
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