Unmasking Extremism on Telegram

For more than a year, FRONTLINE and ProPublica have been investigating a global network of far-right extremists known as the Terrorgram Collective.

The recent documentary The Rise and Fall of Terrorgram explores how this white supremacist network grew on anonymous, loosely-moderated platforms — and the violent consequences. 

Reporters A.C. Thompson and James Bandler join The FRONTLINE Dispatch to talk about the ideas and rhetoric they found inside Terrorgram, and how they uncovered connections between the group and a deadly terror attack at an LGBTQ+ bar in Bratislava, Slovakia, that killed two people.  

“You can find hate speech on most internet spaces,” A.C. Thompson told host Raney Aronson-Rath, editor-in-chief and executive producer of FRONTLINE. “What was different about […] this Terrogram community that colonized Telegram for about five years is it wasn't just about speech. It was about actionable material.”

You can stream The Rise and Fall of Terrorgram, directed by Thomas Jennings and Annie Wong, on FRONTLINE’s website, FRONTLINE’s YouTube Channel, or the PBS App.