White Supremacists Turn UK Riots Into Online Recruiting Pitch

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(Bloomberg) — White supremacist groups have seized on riots in the UK as a recruiting opportunity, using the Telegram messaging site to promote conspiracy theories and incite violence in their bid to lure new members.

Hard-line organizations previously designated by the UK as domestic terrorists are calling for an overthrow of the British government with posts that say “the revolution has started.” Some extremist Telegram users have openly discussed how to capitalize on anti-immigrant sentiment in the UK to steer Britons to radicalized communities, according to findings from Logically, a UK-based firm that tracks online disinformation.

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British authorities are trying to stamp out disturbances fueled by online instigators following the July 29 murder of three schoolgirls in the UK town of Southport. Internet trolls falsely asserted the suspected killer was a foreign asylum-seeker, prompting officials to disclose that the suspect is a teenager born in Cardiff, Wales. A large police presence on British streets and involvement from thousands of anti-racist protesters have helped curb violent demonstrations. 

“Using this incident, even though rooted in false information about the attacker’s place of birth, is an easy way for them to ‘evidence’ that immigration poses a threat,” said Katherine Keneally, director of threat analysis and prevention at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank that tracks extremism.

Extremists adopt such talking points to draw sympathetic people into their ecosystem, then try to radicalize those newcomers, Keneally said. Slowly introducing recruits to violent memes and racist ideas normalizes the white supremacist philosophy. Some beginners then will be willing to take real-world action, according to researchers who track terrorism. 

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“In highlighting the arrests of rioters, they’re also able to ‘prove’ that the government is also against white people and is producing this conspiracy to get rid of white people,” Keneally said.

Sixteen prominent Telegram channels and groups have been posting, hosting and forwarding anti-Muslim and anti-migrant content since the riots began, according to ISD. Posts on X and Telegram that included false claims and inflammatory racial content from white supremacist groups have been viewed millions of times, researchers found. 

Neither X nor Telegram responded to requests for comment on Friday. A Telegram spokesperson previously said the site’s moderators are removing calls for violence. 

Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned on Friday that social media platforms are “not a law-free zone” and that his government would be looking more broadly at regulation. One step would be to revive a key provision in the Online Safety Act giving authorities more power to enforce curbs on harmful content, Bloomberg reported.

UK authorities are investigating possible foreign involvement in the false online posts about the crime and its aftermath, Bloomberg reported. At least 13 international Telegram channels are focused on the rioting, according to Logically.

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Neo-Nazi organizers urged supporters to “mask up” and appear at immigration offices throughout the country where they can “hand out balaclavas” to other rioters, Logically found. Users associated with the so-called Atomwaffen Division, a militant group split into small cells that advocate societal collapse and racial conflict, in recent days have planned disorder at locations that are popular among the Islamic community.

Other channels based in the US are also working to amplify messaging around the riots, according to Bjørn Ihler, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Revontulet, which monitors extremist activity. Groups within those Telegram channels are associated with the Terrorgram, an online network that distributes instructions on how to carry out violence against minority communities.

The British government in April declared Terrorgram a terrorist organization, making it illegal to join or support the group, whose members have frequently praised notorious figures like Adolf Hitler online.

A coalition of so-called Active Groups is also circulating Telegram messages about the UK unrest to recruit new followers. Active Groups seek out white men looking to sharpen their mental and physical fitness. Such communities throughout the world encourage members to participate in street fights, paste racist stickers through their local neighborhood with QR codes that direct visitors to Telegram and broadcast pictures of members holding white supremacist paraphernalia.

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Researchers who study extremism say the clubs exist to bring new followers into the white supremacist ecosystem and function as a kind of standing militia in the event of violent protests or disputed elections.

Active Groups

One Active Group on Telegram included the message “No More Immigration” along with a list of refugee centers that its members could target. Other Active Groups based in Canada, New York, the American Midwest and elsewhere have activated messaging about the UK riots, leaning heavily on Islamophobic posts and portraying young Muslim men as the aggressors in recent street fights.

Known members of the Terrorgram collective within the US also are amplifying UK extremists’ messaging, according to Ihler, of Revontulet. Such focused propaganda broadcasting is the result of an informal network of small militant organizations that support one another from different areas of the world, researchers said.

Neither the FBI nor the US Department of Homeland Security responded to questions about potential concerns of spillover violence into the US.

—With assistance from Daniel Zuidijk, Mark Bergen and Ellen Milligan.

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