Telegram the 'app of choice' for terrorists

Washington

WHEN the Islamic State was seeking volunteers for a holiday killing spree in Europe, it sent word over its favourite social-media channel: the messaging service known as Telegram. "Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Years Day is very soon," began a Dec 6 posting on one of the terrorist group's usual Telegram bulletin boards. "So let's prepare a gift for the filthy pigs/apes."

Two weeks later, when a truck mowed down pedestrians at a crowded Berlin Christmas market, the group again used Telegram, this time to claim credit for the attack. On Friday, after chief suspect Anis Amri was killed in a Milan shootout, Tel…