WASHINGTON – US prosecutors have filed criminal charges against two alleged leaders of a white supremacist gang, saying they used the social media site Telegram to solicit attacks on people of color, Jews, LGBTQ people and immigrants in order to incite a war. racial.
The group, dubbed the “Terrorgram Collective,” used the site to celebrate white supremacist attacks around the world and solicit racially motivated violence, prosecutors said in an unsealed indictment in federal court in Sacramento, California.
Dallas Humber, 34, of Elk Grove, California, and Matthew Allison, 37, of Boise, Idaho, each face 15 felony charges, including soliciting hate crimes and conspiracy to provide material support to terrorism.
Both were in custody, officials said; it was not immediately clear if they had lawyers.
The most serious charges carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
The group’s targets also included US government officials and critical infrastructure areas, with an overall goal of causing societal collapse in the United States, Justice Department officials said during an online news conference.
“This indictment reflects the department’s response to the new technological face of white supremacist violence as those seeking mass violence expand their reach online to encourage, solicit and facilitate terrorist activities,” said Kristen Clarke, head of the Division of Civil Rights of the Department of Justice.
Humber and Allison helped create and promote a document that sought to justify the group’s ideology and included detailed instructions for carrying out terrorist attacks, including how to build bombs, according to the indictment.
The pair also collaborated on a list of “high-value” assassination targets that included a sitting senator and a federal judge who were seen as enemies of the white supremacist cause, prosecutors alleged.
Humber and Allison became leaders of the group in 2022, helping to oversee a network of Telegram channels and group chats that provided support for users to commit white supremacist violence, according to the indictment.
The messaging app has been under scrutiny since its founder, Russian-born Pavel Durov, was arrested in France last month as part of an investigation into child pornography, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions linked to the app.
Durov, who has since been released, condemned the decision to detain him, which sparked a renewed debate about freedom of speech and the culpability of social media executives for content on their platforms.
Durov has pledged to address criticism of the app’s moderation policies.
A Telegram spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment on the indictment.
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