TRAC & Telegram
Telegram is a lot more complicated and time-consuming than it seems unless you have dedicated experts following it all day as we do at TRAC.
Division of IS Media Operations
Islamic State has been compartmentalizing and partitioning its media branches since Fall 2017. The branch structure, combined with the "super fan" content, IS propaganda material and "chatter" is at an all-time critical mass.
Telegram
- TRAC at any given time is in 2,000+ different groups, Super Groups and Private Chat Rooms (including those that are grandfathered. many of which have been long closed to any new members) from 10 different analysis with archives dating back to 22 September 2015, the first migration to the platform.
- Amaq, Nashir and other official IS labels are difficult to join, move rapidly, and constantly change channel names. Often self-limited by the administrator to 100 people, TRAC analyst have well-established profiles that allow us to stay in these channels even when they move.
- TRAC Maintains COMPLETE Telegram archives from its founding in 2015.
- Telegram often has Incidents BEFORE the news: one of the many examples is the Nice Attack of July 2016. Additionally, warnings and advice are issued for certain regions (i.e. beware of raids at specific towns or new checkpoints set) before an attack is carried out.
- Even if the encryption is an obstacle in tracking threats. Telegram users leaves many more clues from languages used to usernames that overlap groups and postings.
- The importance of images on Telegram cannot be overstated — not just posters and selfies but photo reports, homemade videos and "stickers." A lot can be deduced provided you are in enough groups to compare and contrast.
- Telegram is the platform of choice for all jihadist groups (AQ and IS alike from any location globally). However, for Right Wing Militant activity, the Gab platform is where you need to be:
