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# How Terrorgram Collective Influencers Groomed a Killer
- URL: https://werd.io/how-terrorgram-collective-influencers-groomed-a-killer/
- Published: 2025-03-10T12:54:38.000Z
- Updated: 2025-03-10T12:54:38.000Z
- Author: Ben Werdmuller
- Tags: Technology, Notable links, #Import 2025-06-11 21:47

\[[A.C. Thompson, ProPublica and FRONTLINE, James Bandler, ProPublica, and Lukáš Diko, Investigative Center of Jan Kuciak](https://www.propublica.org/article/telegram-terrorgram-collective-bratislava-murders-neo-nazi-online-hate)\]

A tragic story of a teenager recruited by a network of extremists, who ultimately murdered multiple people before taking his own life. It's also an example of why moderation and safety processes on social platforms are so important.

> "And so in August 2019, Juraj Krajčík, then a soft-faced 16-year-old with a dense pile of brown hair, immersed himself in a loose collection of extremist chat groups and channels on the massive social media and messaging platform Telegram. This online community, which was dubbed Terrorgram, had a singular focus: inciting acts of white supremacist terrorism."

This is particularly relevant in a world where companies like X and Meta are cutting back on their safety teams and policies. It's not as easy as waving your hands and saying that it should be a matter for the courts; real lives are at stake. And at the same time, there is, of course, a real danger of falling into the trap of building a surveillance network.

The police at the time thought this was the work of a lone gunman rather than the international community of extremists it actually was. Uncovering this is also the kind of story that only investigative newsrooms can do really well:

> "ProPublica and the PBS series FRONTLINE, along with the Slovakian newsroom Investigative Center of Jan Kuciak, pieced together the story behind Krajčík’s evolution from a troubled teenager to mass shooter. We identified his user name on Telegram, which allowed us to sift through tens of thousands of now-deleted Telegram posts that had not previously been linked to him."

Hopefully this work can help prevent this and similar networks from operating in the future. Likely a more holistic approach is needed, and if law enforcement, educators, and social workers are more aware of the potential risks and playbooks, hopefully they can be more sophisticated about prevention.

[#Technology](https://werd.io/tag/Technology)

\[[Link](https://www.propublica.org/article/telegram-terrorgram-collective-bratislava-murders-neo-nazi-online-hate)\]