Telegram has become a worldwide drain that is being used by terrorists.
Telegram has become a worldwide drain that is being used by terrorists who take advantage of the newly introduced Telegram Stars.
In June 2024, Telegram, a messaging application, introduced Telegram Stars which allow users to purchase digital goods and services, an idea that has now been linked to terrorism.
Apart from purchasing services, Telegram Stars also buy mini apps inside the Telegram ecosystem, send gifts to content creators on the Telegram platform, and more.
Russian private military companies (PMCs), like the Wagner Group, The Africa Corps (AC), also called Russian Expeditionary Corps (REK) and Islamic State-affiliated violent extremist groups continue progressing on Telegram.
For starters, PMC Wagner is a proscribed terrorist organisation in the UK and a transnational criminal organisation in the US. In November 2024 AC was sanctioned by the United Kingdom as well over its activities in the African continent.
They both operate in Mali where there are numerous Human Rights Violations.
“PMC affiliated users share and promote financing vectors on their Telegram channels, allowing their followers to financially support them, or to indirectly support Russia’s war in Ukraine and military operations in the Sahel (support to soldiers, veterans, military-linked organisations or charities for example),” a recent report dubbed Telegram Stars and Terrorism Financing read.
Some financing vectors remain closed and can be only accessed by those in Russia, others can be accessed by anyone as long as they are users in the application.
Once the money is received, the channels will then be able to redeem the funds into cryptocurrency.
What raised eyebrows on the way of operation of the Russia linked Telegram channels is when one known as “White uncles in Africa” (@wagner_group2022) posted that, to mitigate the threat of the channel being deleted for posting graphic “18+” content, a parallel channel named “White uncles in Africa 18+” was created to host more sensitive content.
Wagner PMC operatives
The announcement was made on August 27, 2024, and by March 20, 2025, the channel had 89 subscribers. Joining as a member of the group is restricted.
The White Uncles in Africa- was founded in July 2022 and has a membership of over 77,000 and it has gone on publishing content related to Wagner PMC activities in the Sahel, including recruitment campaigns and photographs taken by Wagner PMC operatives in Mali.
In this case, Mali is a country of interest as it faces a complex and ongoing humanitarian crisis that has been marked by persistent conflict-related violence.
A March 2025 investigation by Bellingcat which is a Netherlands-based investigative journalism group showed that the admin of the Telegram group was known as Roman Morin, a member of PMC Wagner.
The Nation reached out to Telegram application and specifically asked about the operation of the groups but by time of going to press they had not responded.
This remains a ticking bomb if authorities do not take any action against Telegram by ensuring that activities are restricted. This is because of the ever-increasing number of new subscribers that join the application.
In March 2025, Telegram founder Pavel Durov shared that Telegram hit 1 billion active users globally. Following this, he also disclosed that Telegram registered Sh70.5 billion in profit last year.
Founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov delivers a keynote speech during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain February 23, 2016.
Durov, a jailbird, also said that the platform boasts around 450 million daily active users (DAU). In addition, globally, 10 million people have subscribed to Telegram premium.
For Durov, a man who believes that authorities should observe the freedom of speech, especially online, the monetary factor is all that matters.
On the contrary, many countries now want the application regulated. For instance, the European Union is targeting the oversight of the application under the Digital Service Act- a law that forces large online platforms to police their services more aggressively.
Extremist ideologies
According to Counter Extremism Project (CEP) which is a not-for-profit, non-partisan, international policy organization formed to combat the growing threat from extremist ideologies, there is a huge presence of terrorists on Telegram.
In a report released in early 2024, the organisation said that terrorist and extremist groups like ISIS, al-Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, and others use the encrypted application Telegram for purposes that may include recruiting new members, fundraising, inciting violence, and even coordinating terrorist activity.
“Telegram’s messaging application has both public-facing and private components. This flexible interface enables extremists to do everything from self-promotion, brand development, and propaganda dissemination, to in limited cases, secret plotting of attacks outside detection or interference from law enforcement,” said the organization.
It said that telegram is easy to use and can be accessed via a desktop or mobile device. It is here that the terror groups share propaganda or share links to propaganda websites.
According to the organisation, this is because extremists have been pushed off of mainstream social media websites and they opt for less moderated online space.
Commenting on the matter, Mr Kevin Moenga, a Computer Science expert said that it is important that Telegram is regulated like the other social media platforms.
He said that it’s the role of governments to ensure that the people are protected from such exposure.
“I am on Telegram myself, one trend I have realized is that whenever there is a bad video trending, maybe terror-related or someone being murdered that is the only platform people direct you to see,” he said.
“I wonder why one while scrolling through other platforms cannot bounce into such disturbing content,” he added.
Mr Pius Masai, a United Nation (UN) security expert and advisor, echoed Mr Oenga saying that there was no option but to regulate the platform.
Mr Masai said that Kenya should even lead in doing so through the Communication Authority of Kenya.
“If the report has already shown that there are gaps which come with using the platform, Kenya being one of the countries in the region that has suffered more from terror-related activities they should just regulate Telegram,” Mr Masai said.
