Right-wing collective operating on Telegram designated as global terrorist group

The US Department of State on Monday handed down a global terror designation to an online group of violent white supremacists operating on Telegram, otherwise known as ‘The Terrorgram Collective.’

The extremist right-wing network and three of its leaders are accused of promoting violent white supremacy and have plotted or carried out at least three terrorist attacks, one within the US and two internationally, the US Department of State (DoS) said.

Primarily operating on the encrypted social messaging platform Telegram, the designated terror group not only urges its 'Terrorgram' channel followers to carry out attacks on perceived adversaries but also “provides guidance and instructional materials on tactics, methods, and targets for attacks, including on critical infrastructure and government officials,” the announcement said.

We have designated The Terrorgram Collective and 3 of its leaders as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The U.S. is committed to countering racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist threats worldwide and transnational components of violent white supremacism.

undefined Matthew Miller (@StateDeptSpox) January 13, 2025

Officials have linked The Terrorgram Collective to a July 2024 planned attack on New Jersey energy facilities; an August 2024 knife attack at a mosque in Turkey, and an October 2022 shooting outside an LGBTQI+ bar in Slovakia.

The special designation includes sanctions against the group and its leaders, freezing any assets or interests, and blocking any US person or entity from doing business with the trio or the collective.

The sanctioned leaders include two of the group's alleged Telegram channel administrators – Noah Licul of Croatia and Hendrik-Wahl Muller of South Africa, as well as alleged Terrorgram senior member Ciro Daniel Amorim Ferreira of Brazil. All three are said to be living in their countries of origin.

In September 2024, the US Justice Department (DoJ) arrested two men in their 30s, one from California and the other from Idaho, accusing them of leading the Terrorgram group.

In the DoJ 15-count indictment, the two were charged with targeting a hit list of “high-value” officials, soliciting hate crimes, and providing material support for other terrorist groups, such as “distributing information about explosives.”

The hit list included US federal, state, and local officials, as well as leaders of private companies and non-governmental organizations, many because of "race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity," the DoJ said.

The leaders were said to have used the Telegram channel to urge attacks on Black, Jewish, and LGBTQ people and immigrants – all to "incite a race war, sow chaos, and accelerate the collapse of government and society."

Telegram founder Pavel Durov was arrested last August in France, partly for allowing criminal groups to operate freely on the platform without any oversight. Since then, Telegram has been outwardly more cooperative with international law enforcement.

In April, the British government also labeled the collective a terrorist organization, making it a criminal offense to promote or belong to the group.

The Terrorgram special designation falls under the US National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism, first passed in 2021 to reign in threats and prevent Americans from supporting domestic terror groups.

“The United States remains deeply concerned about the racially or ethnically motivated violent extremist (REMVE) threat worldwide and committed to countering transnational components of violent white supremacism,” the DOS stated.