Militant Accelerationism Coalitions: A Case Study in Neo-Fascist Accelerationist Coalition Building Online
| by CTEC
Read the full report here: Militant Accelerationism Coalitions: A Case Study in Neo-Fascist Accelerationist Coalition Building Online (PDF)
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. The so-called “Terrorgram” community[1] on the platform has been the principal point of online organising, identity building, propaganda distribution, and more.
In early 2021, two militant accelerationist coalitions emerged in the “Terrorgram” space: United Acceleration Front and National Socialist Coalition. This report provides an overview of two seemingly new formations of online networks of accelerationist and neo-fascist entities that are self-described as Atomwaffen Division (AWD) spinoffs. It also provides an understanding of how they behave online and speaks to the threats of real-world violence they pose.
One such inspired entity is Feuerkrieg Division (FKD), which is at the centre of the two networks assessed in this report. FKD, which is a proscribed entity in the UK, Australia, and Canada, emerged in early 2021 from a period of dormancy in order to promote and network with InJekt Division. InJekt and FKD provided established networks and aesthetic machinery to help build the United Acceleration Front and National Socialist Coalition.
CTEC and Tech Against Terrorism collected and analyzed data from channels and chats associated with these coalitions from June 2021 to February 2022. Having archived consistently throughout that period, this data provides an unprecedented snapshot of the evolution of neo-fascist coalition-building and the ways that extremist actors strategically use communications (and sometimes expunge past messages) for propaganda purposes on Telegram.
We augmented this primary data with context beyond this timeline. Throughout this report, we show that these coalitions are consequences of a pattern of activity that emerged years before.
Tech Against Terrorism identified 21 entities within this network over the period of June 2021 to February 2022. The network was densely populated by distinct but seemingly allied entities. A key feature of the network’s operation was the announcement of strategic partnerships between entities. Based on our analysis of domain records relating to websites run by entities within the network, we assess it to be likely that the apparent strength of this network may have been artificially inflated by its creators, who likely sought to make the network appear larger than it was.
Typical behaviours observed across the network include:
- Using Telegram to announce the creation of named entities, to recruit members, and to disseminate propaganda externally.
- Supplementing the network’s core presence on Telegram with accounts and pages in other online spaces, including mainstream social media platforms.
- The explicit amplification of allied entities within the network. Telegram channels would regularly promote other channels and groups with shared ideologies and goals, through resharing of posts, sharing of relevant URLs, and encouraging users to subscribe to their partners’ channels or pages.
[1] The name “Terrorgram” is a combination of Telegram and terrorism. Members of neo-fascist Telegram channels overtly endorse militant accelerationism, terrorism, racism, and anti-Semitism.