How a neo-Nazi Telegram community created a chat group that incited racist, anti-Semitic and homophobic hate, and led to a teenage mass shooting

The American independent news organization ProPublica has summarized how a neo-Nazi community on the free messaging app 'Telegram' radicalized a Slovakian boy and ultimately caused a shooting terrorist incident that killed two people and seriously injured one.

How Terrorgram Collective Influencers Groomed a Killer — ProPublica
https://www.propublica.org/article/telegram-terrorgram-collective-bratislava-murders-neo-nazi-online-hate

In August 2019, a 16-year-old boy joined a chat group on Telegram that supported white supremacy, anti-Semitism, and homophobia. The boy had been bullied at school, and felt that 'my voice was being heard for the first time' in the Telegram chat group.

The boy became close with a fellow Slovakian user with the handle name 'Slovakbro,' who was the central figure in the chat group. Slovakbro posted how to make bombs and commit violent acts, encouraging chat group participants to carry them out. As he deepened his friendship with Slovakbro, the boy began to accept Slovakbro's radical ideology, and he became so absorbed in it that he spent nearly half of his day on Telegram and made more than 100 posts.

On September 18, 2019, the boy shared an article about an LGBTQ bar in Bratislava, Slovakia, to a chat group. Slovakbro responded with a post glorifying the London LGBTQ pub bombing. The boy then expressed hatred towards the LGBTQ community and posted a photo of the bar.

In 2021, Slovakbro officially formed an organization called the 'Terrorgram Collective' to produce and distribute more extreme propaganda and instructional books for terrorist attacks. However, Slovakbro was arrested in Slovakia in the summer of 2022 on terrorism-related charges.

Although it seemed that the Terrorgram Collective had collapsed due to the arrest of Slovakbro, a man living in California, USA, became the new leader of the Terrorgram Collective and was guiding the boys. The man said, 'My job is to accept young white men and complete the radicalization process.'

In October 2022, the boy scouted the home of the Slovak Prime Minister, a Jewish community center, an LGBTQ bar, and other places, and posted messages on Twitter (at the time) alluding to terrorism, such as 'There is a high possibility that I will die during the operation.' Shortly thereafter, the boy used his father's .45 caliber handgun to open fire on an LGBTQ bar that he had previously shared on Telegram, killing two people and wounding one.

While being pursued by the police, the boy took his own life after talking to a psychologist who runs a suicide hotline on the phone. The man who was mentoring the boy spread the boy's statement of crime, saying, 'The boy is one of the first works I came across on Telegram and the most amazing work on the platform,' and 'The boy is a saint.' The man was arrested in January 2025.

Telegram said, 'We do not tolerate calls for violence from any group on our platform,' and said it had stepped up its monitoring. ProPublica noted that experts have noted that 'major social media companies such as X (Twitter) and Meta have scaled back their monitoring of online content,' and warned that violent neo-Nazi groups would likely find another home even if they were banned from Telegram.