Extremists on Telegram Pose as Fight Clubs, Raising Alarms in US
- US government received briefings on white-supremacist groups
- Martial arts, hiking trips seen as ways to recruit new members
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White-supremacist groups are escalating efforts to recruit new members over the Telegram social media app, where they’ve amplified racist conspiracies while posing as men-only fight clubs.
Communications from so-called Active Clubs surged on Telegram over the past month, as the US election neared, according to civil rights groups and researchers who have studied extremism for years. Some clubs with large followings have shared each others’ messages in a sign of coordination among cells that have previously portrayed themselves as independent.