Anti-Semites are Using a Popular Chat App to Compile a List of Jewish People
Anti-Semitic trolls are creating an online list of Jewish people who are critical of white nationalism. Since its creation almost a month ago, it has become the fastest-growing alt-right group on the popular Telegram chat service.
The list is mostly made of archived tweets from individuals criticizing white supremacy, misogyny, and other types of bigotry. Each profile includes a tweet in which the person in question describes themselves as Jewish. The first post on the list singled out Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), but posters quickly moved to documenting far less prominent people that they believe are Jewish. The list includes many who are not public figures, or who have only modest profiles as rank-and-file activists, journalists, or social media figures. Around a dozen people have been added nearly every day.
The chat has been the fastest-growing alt-right public Telegram channel since the start of September, according to metrics compiled by a separate far-right Telegram group tracking similar channels. That channel’s data suggests the group has picked up over 1,500 new members in the last two weeks, averaging roughly 100 new subscriptions a day—a rate of growth three times that of the next channel. It now has 2,400 subscribers. Because the channel is publicly accessible, is likely being viewed by many more people.
While the group’s creator is pseudonymous, they appear to be a neo-Nazi, according to Oren Segal, the director of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, based on a post they made in September saying they were “14 away from the magic number.” Segal believes this was a reference to the channel at the time being 14 away from 1488 subscribers; Neo-Nazis give the number significance because 14 is the number of words in a common white supremacist slogan and 88 is an abbreviation for “Heil Hitler.”
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