A new study by the US-based Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) found that Telegram’s algorithm actively promotes extremist content on the platform to users, despite alleged safeguards, the BBC reported. The platform’s “similar channels” feature recommends extremist content even to users searching for innocuous topics like celebrities or technology.
SPLC researchers analyzed 28,000 Telegram channels for the report entitled “Telegram’s Toxic Recommendations.” The findings showed that users who were browsing one type of extreme content, such as anti-government conspiracies, are quickly directed to other extremist ideologies, including antisemitism and white nationalism.
Lead researcher Megan Squire demonstrated that searching for the name “Donald Trump” on a newly created Telegram account immediately yielded channels promoting QAnon conspiracy theories. Similarly, a search for “UK riots” brought up content featuring Adolf Hitler memes and violent far-right groups.
Squire described Telegram as a “digital threat,” rating it “an 11 on a scale of one to 10” due to the platform’s role in spreading extremist and criminal content. “It is extremely dangerous in my opinion,” she said.
Former insider Elies Campo asserted that Telegram’s founder, Pavel Durov, had resisted addressing extremist material when challenged in 2021, according to the BBC report. “His stance was that it’s not up to the platform to decide who gets to speak out,” Campo stated.
Professor David Maimon from Georgia State University, who studies illegal content on Telegram, showcased how criminals use the platform to trade weapons. Within minutes, he was offered an Uzi submachine gun for shipment to the UK.
Telegram, which has nearly one billion users, insists that it removes millions of pieces of harmful content every day through AI tools and moderation teams. The platform claims that its content suggestions are purely topic-based, aligned with users’ interests, and denies actively promoting any material.
Primarily recognized as a messaging app with privacy-focused features, Telegram also enables its nearly one billion users to create groups that can broadcast messages and videos to as many as 200,000 members simultaneously, a feature that has allowed far right-wing groups to organize real-world actions, such as the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Telegram is now cooperating with US law enforcement investigations after Russian-born Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested in France, indicted, and released on bail in August over allegations that he has enabled and is complicit in drug trafficking, organized crime, and allowing child abuse content on Telegram. He has denied all the French prosecutor’s allegations but remains subject to investigation and prohibited from leaving the country.