Thread by @Rita_Katz

1)#ISIS #alqaeda and other jihadist communities are struggling to stay alive on Telegram and other ICT companies' platforms, due to Europol-led action that has succeeded in stifling the distribution of group propaganda and interrupting communications between individual supporters

2)This is the most comprehensive and effective measure carried out against IS online activity since the group moved to Telegram in 2014. As of now, there is no viable alternative to Telegram, however, other platforms have long been on the IS' periphery.

wired.com/story/terroris…

3)Though Europol's campaign is focused primarily on #ISIS, there also appears to be a coordinated effort to hinder the group & individual communications of #alqaeda -with #Shabaab #JNIM #AQIS & #AQIM among affected branches. Individual & publisher accounts have also been removed

4)As expected, #ISIS-linked channels & individuals are responding to the campaign, promising the group's message and propaganda will continue to spread "secretly," and assuring "You Can't Delete the Khilafah," regardless of its state on Telegram.

5)Telegram has seen mass deletions of jihadi accounts in past, h/e this campaign was more intelligently executed w/ pivotal IS administrators removed, stifling distribution from top down. Effort will only be as effective as it is persistent- time will tell if impact is lasting.

6)#ISIS groups & prominent accounts are publishing material on Riot accounts- a move seen prior as a periphery media option. As seen in my Wired article: in 2017, ISIS accounts were taken off the platform immediately- indicating Riot will probably not offer a long term safe haven

7)As expected, amid #ISIS groups publishing on Riot, the platform is rapidly deleting accounts/channels. However, ISIS multiple channels continue to push material onto the platform. Europol-led campaign cont's w/ thousands of jihadist Telegram accounts/bots being taken down daily

8)On RocketChat, #ISIS presence is growing, with the number of users tripling since the platform launched in Dec. 2018. In addition, more than 60 channels have been observed. Users on Telegram are continuing to promote ISIS presence on both Riot & RocketChat.

9)What differentiates this dumping campaign from prior efforts is the mass removal of individual users & administrators -not necessarily channels themselves- which had proven ineffective.

10)Now ongoing for the past seven days, from Nov. 21-27, the Europol-led dumping campaign on Telegram is still extremely active. Users are being removed at an impressive pace.

11) Update 11/29: Ongoing deletions of #ISIS and #alQaeda Telegram accounts have made serious disruptions to these groups’ online operations, with members and supporters now considering other platforms.

Read on @siteintelgroup’s inSITE blog:
news.siteintelgroup.com/blog/index.php…