Two Alleged White Supremacist Organizers Charged for Recruitment and Violence 

United States – US prosecutors revealed criminal charges on Monday against two alleged organizers of the white supremacist group. They stated they used the social media app Telegram to recruit individuals to carry out assaults on the blacks, Jews, LGBTQ, and immigrants to provoke a race war. 

Group Used Telegram for Recruitment and Incitement 

The members of the group called “The Terrorgram Collective” used the site for praising the white supremacist attacks across the globe and inciting racial violence, as well as requesting others to commit such attacks, the prosecutors stated in the indictment that has been unveiled in the federal court in Sacramento, California, as reported by Reuters. 

Dallas Humber, 34, of Elk Grove, California, and Matthew Allison, 37, of Boise, Idaho, will be charged with 15 crimes, including three federal criminal counts of solicitation for hate crimes and conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism. The two were in custody, officials said; it was not immediately clear if they had lawyers. 

The group’s targets also included U. S. government officials and critical infrastructure sites, with an overall goal of causing societal collapse in the United States, U. S. Justice Department officials stated during an online news conference. 

Indictment Highlights New Face of White Supremacist Violence 

“This indictment reflects the department’s response to the new technological face of white supremacist violence as those seeking mass violence expand their reach online to encourage, solicit, and facilitate terrorist activities,” said Kristen Clarke, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. 

They also planned together a list of people they wanted to eliminate as enemies of the white race, including a sitting senator from the U.S. and a federal judge, as the prosecutors told the court. 

Humber and Allison assumed leadership for the group in 2022, managing a network of Telegram channels and group chats designed to provide encouragement for users planning acts of white supremacist violence, as per the indictment. 

Telegram and Its Controversies 

The messaging app has been in the spotlight following the recent arrest of its creator, Russian-born Pavel Durov, in France last month over child pornography, drug trafficking, and fraudulent transactions linked to the app. 

Durov, who was recently released, criticized his detention and roused the discussion on freedom of speech and the responsibility of the heads of social networks for the content posted therein, as reported by Reuters. 

No Comment from Telegram 

Durov has promised to address complaints regarding the app’s moderation policies. A Telegram spokesperson could not be reached to comment on the indictment on Tuesday, but the company has previously denied any links to the financing of terrorism.