LONDON—After its various accounts were repeatedly shut down on Twitter, the Islamic State (ISIS) has now shifted its propaganda activities to the mobile app Telegram.
According to a BBC report, the app “allows users to broadcast their messages to an unlimited number of members via their own Telegram "channel".”
Just days after Telegram launched its Channels tool last month, members of the ISIS propaganda machine started advertising their group’s channel named Nashir.
“It has already amassed more than 4,500 subscribers.” BBC reported.
Since its foundation ISIS has successfully used Twitter and other social media websites to spread its message and recruit thousands of people from across the world to join the fight in Iraq and Syria.
Built by independent developers, the Berlin-based Telegram Messenger app was first launched for iPhone in August 2013 and for Android two months later.
“We believe in fast and secure messaging that is also 100% free,” say the app’s developers.
ISIS has announced many of its activities and claimed responsibility for attacks in different Middle Eastern countries, including a bombing in the Yemeni city of Aden on Twitter and most recently on Telegram.
Since last year many Western governments have cracked down on ISIS and other jihadi groups on Twitter and individual hackers have also targeted the group’s accounts.
However, the extremist group may have found a secure platform for its activities in Telegram.
The owners of the app promise that they will protect “your private conversations from snooping third parties, such as officials, employers, etc.”
“Protecting your personal data from third parties, such as marketers, advertisers, etc,” Telegram Messenger says under its rules. “This is what everybody should care about, and these are some of our top priorities.”
The developers say that they respect the privacy of individual or group chats on the app and they will not share participants’ information with any governments.
