Terrorgram Becomes 1st Online Group to Be Banned

MPs have voted in favour of proscribing an online terror network, the first time an online group has received the designation in the UK.

Undated photo of signage for the Home Office. Kirsty O’Connor/PA

A Telegram channel has become the first online group to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation following a vote in Parliament.

The Home Office described Terrorgram as an “online network of neo-fascist terrorists who produce and disseminate violent propaganda to encourage those who consume its content to engage in terrorist activity.”

On Wednesday the Home Office laid a draft proscription order before Parliament and it was approved by a vote of MPs.

During the debate Home Office minister Tom Tugendhat said Terrorgram was a “transnational, online network of neo-fascist terrorists who produce and disseminate violent propaganda with the aim of radicalising readers and encouraging individuals to commit acts of terrorism.”

The Home Office said, “Their propaganda also contains violent narratives that glorified the perpetrator of the 2022 Slovakia attack at a LGBTQ+ nightclub shooting, which resulted in the death of two people.”

In October 2022 Juraj Krajčik, 19, shot dead two people at a gay bar in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, and then killed himself. He credited Terrorgram in his manifesto.

A recent report by Tech Against Terrorism, an open source intelligence team, said, “Telegram has long been heavily targeted by violent far-right extremists for digital organising and community building, including for adherents to a neo-fascist strain of militant accelerationism.”

Terrorgram ‘Principal Point of Online Organising’

“The so-called ‘Terrorgram’ community on the platform has been the principal point of online organising, identity-building, propaganda distribution, and more.”

Terrorgram will become the 81st group to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation and follows the Russia-based Wagner Group and Hizb ut-Tahrir.

The Home Office said Terrorgram was “the sixth extreme right-wing group to be proscribed, standing alongside 75 groups proscribed for extreme Islamist or other ideologies, and 14 Northern Ireland-related groups.”

Mr. Tugendhat told MPs: “The message of hatred they preach is one of extreme white supremacism. They call not just for death and violence, but the collapse of Western democracy itself, so that they might build a whites-only world in its place.”

“The decision to proscribe Terrorgram demonstrates this government’s commitment to defend the security of the LGBT community,” he added.

The minister said: “Terrorgram hold vile anti-Semitic views. They have published propaganda material aimed at inciting violence against Jewish communities and the state of Israel, and most recently celebrated Hamas’s attacks on Israel, including endorsing the use of terrorism to target Israel and Jewish communities.”

The icon of the Telegram messaging app. Yuri Kadobnov/AFP via Getty Images

Shadow Home Office minister Dan Jarvis welcomed the move and said more online groups should be proscribed “if necessary.”

He said, “We approve of this innovative action that will lead to the rightful prescription of Terrorgram because within legal frameworks, there must be an approach that is relentless, agile, and cunning to defeat terrorist groups.”

‘Warped Ideology’

“This applies to all terrorist groups as, regardless of whatever warped ideology they peddle, violent extremists across the spectrum continue to use online platforms to radicalise their support base and organise their activities, so we must prepare to prescribe more online groups if that is necessary,” added Mr. Jarvis, a former soldier.

Earlier this month 18-year-old Cameron Finnigan was arrested and charged with preparing acts of terrorism.

A hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court heard he was alleged to have been involved in what was described as a pseudo-satanist online group called 764.

Mr. Finnigan is due to go on trial at Winchester Crown Court next year.

Support for Terrorgram is now a criminal offence and is punishable by up to 14 years in prison or an unlimited fine.

But among the proscribed groups is Hamas and earlier this year two women who were convicted of carrying or displaying an article to arouse reasonable suspicion they were supporters of Hamas were given only a 12-month conditional discharge.

PA Media contributed to this report.