Extremist Content Online: Alleged Shooter In Deadly
German Attacks Celebrated By White Supremacists On Telegram,
Chan-Style Imageboards
(New York, N.Y.) – The Counter
Extremism Project (CEP) reports weekly on the methods used by
extremists to exploit the Internet and social media platforms to
recruit followers and incite violence. This week, white supremacist
Telegram channels and chan-style imageboards celebrated the alleged
shooter in two deadly attacks in Hanau, Germany that left nine dead.
Additionally, CEP located ISIS content on Telegra.ph, and also located
an ISIS Amaq video on multiple websites including Telegram and
RocketChat. Also, an accelerationist white supremacist Telegram
channel urged viewers to kill elected officials. Finally, two videos
featuring an accelerationist song advocating for the murder of Jews,
people of color, Latinos and immigrants that included background
Atomwaffen Division (AWD) footage were also located on
YouTube.
White Supremacist Telegram And Chans Celebrate
Hanau, Germany Shooter
White supremacist Telegram channels and chan style
imageboards celebrated Tobias Rathjen, who allegedly murdered nine
people with a firearm at two shisha lounges in Hanau, Germany on
February 19, before killing his mother and then himself. Rathjen, who
was motivated by racism and xenophobia, uploaded a video to YouTube
several days before the attack where he alleged that the U.S. was
ruled by secret societies and mind control techniques. Rathjen also
operated a website (since taken offline) where he stated that he was
controlled by mind-readers from an unnamed intelligence agency, and
that immigrants and people in Germany of Middle Eastern, African, and
Asian ancestry had to be killed.
Telegram channels comprising some of the most radical sectors
of white supremacist content on the platform posted Rathjen’s English
language YouTube video, and praised his actions. One channel in a
message viewed approximately 500 times, approvingly claimed that the
shootings were a "textbook case of accelerationism.” An English
language video that Rathjen posted, replete with conspiracy theories,
had over 4,000 views on Telegram. Other Telegram channels and users of
two Chan imageboards, one which uses services provided by Cloudflare,
referred to Rathjen as a “saint” for murdering immigrants. There is no
evidence indicating that Rathjen himself used Telegram or Chan
imageboards, nor did he reference any prior mass shootings inspired by
8chan’s “politically incorrect” board.
ISIS Content Located On
Telegra.ph
ISIS content consisting of propaganda photos, news reports,
and links to communications applications were located by CEP
researchers on the Telegra.ph platform. Telegra.ph is a function of
Telegram, and allows users to share content with individuals who do
not have Telegram accounts. Two different pages, both posted on
February 16, were still online four days later. One of the pages
located contained over 100 ISIS propaganda photos from the group’s
affiliates in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Central Africa, West Africa, Sinai,
Somalia, Pakistan, and India. The photosets from Iraq and Sinai
included execution photos, and the Syria, Yemen, and Central Africa
photosets included images of corpses.
ISIS Amaq Video Located On Multiple
Websites
CEP researchers located a clip from ISIS’s Amaq news agency
on multiple websites, uploaded on February 17. The video shows combat
in Yemen between ISIS and Houthi forces, and what are purported to be
captured Houthi positions and a hostage. In addition to Telegram and
RocketChat, the video was uploaded to at least 13 websites: Amazon
Cloud Drive, file.fm, SendVid, Streamable, Tune.pk, yadi.sk, the
Internet Archive, mail.ru, the Microsoft One Drive, Mega.nz, Top4top,
Mediafire, and Dropbox. Three days later, the video was still
available on five websites in addition to Telegram and RocketChat:
Streamable, Tune.pk, mail.ru, Top4top, and
Mediafire.
Accelerationist White Supremacist Telegram
Channel Urges Viewers To Kill Elected
Officials
On Monday, February 17, an accelerationist white supremacist
Telegram channel posted an image urging subscribers to shoot elected
officials. The same image, which shows bullets with accompanying text,
was posted in a different Telegram channel that also encouraged
violence in July 2019. In three days, the image was seen over 1,500
times. The channel, which has over 3,600 subscribers and uses an image
of Timothy McVeigh as an AVI, has indicated that the administrator
lives in Slovakia.
Accelerationist Song Advocating Murder with
Background Atomwaffen Division Footage Located On
YouTube
Two videos were located on YouTube of a song made by an
individual endorsing a loose-knit accelerationist group that reveres
Dylann Roof. The video advocates the murder of Jews, people of color,
Latinos, and immigrants, and was originally uploaded in August 2019.
The video had over 1,500 views when it was located on February 20.
Another video, which was unlisted and had identical audio, but
included clips taken from Atomwaffen Division videos was also located,
posted as a link in the comments of the first video. The AWD footage,
which is taken directly from the group’s propaganda videos, includes
individuals firing various firearms while wearing AWD patches. The
unlisted video was uploaded in October 2019, and had almost 200 views
when it was located on February 20.
Both videos were reported to YouTube on February 21, however
they were still online three days later. YouTube has previously
removed AWD content from their platform for violating their Terms of
Service on hate speech. It is unclear if AWD videos have been added to
the website’s hash database.
Atomwaffen Division footage on YouTube,
February 20, 2020
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