Hamas, a militant group from Gaza has seen a significant surge in its online presence on the popular messaging app Telegram. This increase in followers has been observed since the group’s terror attack on Israel on October 7.
According to a report by CNN, the account of the al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’ military wing, has witnessed its following triple, with a ten-fold increase in the number of views of videos and other content posted by the account. Despite being barred from most social media platforms due to new internet laws in the European Union and prohibitions by Meta and Google, Hamas continues to maintain its presence on Telegram.
Telegram, founded by Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov and now based in Dubai, has allowed Hamas to continue using its service. The platform’s loose content moderation rules have made it popular among extremist groups internationally and far-right groups in the United States.
Before the attack, posts by the al-Qassam Brigades’ channel were viewed on average about 25,000 times. Now, they are viewed more than 300,000 times, marking a more than ten-fold increase. Another channel that posts video messages from a Hamas spokesperson has also seen its followers increase from 166,000 to over 414,000 since October 7th.
Durov defended his decision to allow Hamas on his platform by arguing that Telegram doesn’t use algorithms to promote content and that Hamas’ Telegram channels serve as a unique source of first-hand information for researchers, journalists, and fact-checkers. He questioned whether shutting down their channel would help save lives or endanger more lives. As critics continue to hold platforms accountable for their content, it remains to be seen how this situation will evolve.
Durov, on his Telegram channel, said, “Every day, Telegram's moderators and AI tools remove millions of obviously harmful content from our public platform. However, tackling war-related coverage is seldom obvious. Earlier this week, Hamas used Telegram to warn civilians in Ashkelon to leave the area ahead of their missile strikes. Would shutting down their channel help save lives — or would it endanger more lives?”
He further added, “It’s always tempting to act on emotional impulses. But such complex situations require thorough consideration that should also take into account the differences between social platforms. Unlike other apps that algorithmically promote shocking content to unsuspecting people, on Telegram, users receive only the content to which they specifically subscribed. As such, it's unlikely that Telegram channels can be used to significantly amplify propaganda. Instead, they serve as a unique source of first-hand information for researchers, journalists, and fact-checkers. While it would be easy for us to destroy this source of information, doing so risks exacerbating an already dire situation.”
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