Introduction
The emergence of extremist ideologies in Brazil, particularly through the Telegram network known as Terrorgram, presents a grave threat to youth radicalisation and public safety. This Insight examines the alarming proliferation of accelerationist and neo-Nazi propaganda infiltrating local online communities and social media platforms, which has led to a disturbing rise in violent incidents among Brazilian youth. Recent analyses reveal a nearly fourfold increase in police investigations into Nazi propaganda, classified as a crime under local law, with 129 cases initiated last year—the highest number recorded in Brazil’s history. The glorification of violence on social media, highlighted by the dissemination of content celebrating the neo-Nazi terrorist attack in Eskisehir, Turkey, intensifies this crisis. Vulnerable teenagers and children are increasingly exposed to radicalising materials that romanticise criminality, contributing to a series of attacks in Brazilian schools throughout 2023.
Contextualising Terrorgram
Terrorgram functions as a network of Telegram channels that collectively produce and share radicalising content for the extreme right, primarily promoting accelerationist ideologies. This rhetoric advocates for violence as a necessary means to justify civil war or even global conflict. At its core, accelerationism may be explained as the belief that truth emerges from identity disputes, especially in the context of a race war aimed at asserting white supremacy. It employs persuasive arguments drawn from conspiracy theories, such as the Great Replacement Theory, while spreading misinformation about demographics. In many respects, accelerationism mirrors neo-Nazism and other extremist ideologies, legitimising the notion that societal collapse is essential for achieving a desired racial or ideological order.
A study by the Italian Team for Security, Terroristic Issues & Managing Emergencies identified over 200 channels on Telegram linked to the Terrorgram collective, promoting neo-fascism and anti-government terrorism, and providing guides for making explosives and firearms.
Terrorgram in Brazil
In August, I conducted an investigation for Nucleo, a Brazilian journalistic outlet focused on the societal implications of the internet and social media, uncovering that Brazilian Telegram channels were disseminating content related to the August terrorist attack in Eskişehir, Turkey. The content in question, created by the 18-year-old perpetrator, Arda K., and other members of the Terrorgram collective, has been circulating within Brazilian Telegram communities, prompting concerns regarding the radicalisation of young individuals. The shared materials include a brief clip of the recorded livestream of the attack, as well as “fancams” – videos glorifying the perpetrator with captions containing romantic or sexual declarations – and the English-translated version of the perpetrator’s manifesto.
The dissemination of this content within Brazilian Telegram communities is particularly noteworthy, as it involves groups and channels that were previously identified in a 2022 report I authored for Nucleo. This earlier investigation monitored 46 groups and channels that promoted neo-Nazi propaganda and also detected the sharing of the Hard Reset manifesto, a digital zine that contains bomb manufacturing manuals and guides for attacking energy towers, which is another product of Terrorgram.
Notably, the report’s publication coincided with a tragic incident in November 2022, in which a 16-year-old individual, clad in military attire and displaying neo-Nazi symbols, perpetrated a fatal attack in the city of Aracruz, resulting in the deaths of four people. The Brazilian Federal Police attributed the adolescent’s radicalisation to his exposure to Telegram and Terrorgram channels, highlighting the real-world consequences of online extremist content dissemination.
Terrorgram and Brazilian Law
Brazil has had legislation since 1989 that criminalises the manufacture, commercialisation, distribution, or broadcasting of symbols, emblems, ornaments, badges, or propaganda using the swastika to promote Nazism, with penalties ranging from two to five years in prison. Additionally, racial discrimination and insults are serious offences, punishable by imprisonment and significant fines.
Despite these legal frameworks, the country struggles to combat the rising tide of far-right extremist ideologies targeting youth, a challenge further complicated by limited research funding. This issue can be approached from two perspectives: first, through a statistical analysis of data from the Brazilian Federal Police, offering quantitative insights; and second, through an examination of recent local events, providing a qualitative understanding of the phenomenon.
Criminal Investigations into neo-Nazism have Increased in Brazil
Another data analysis conducted for Nucleo in February 2024 revealed a significant rise in investigations initiated by the Federal Police in Brazil concerning crimes related to Nazi propaganda on social media. Specifically, there was a staggering 279% increase in investigations from 2022 to 2023, marking 2023 as the year with the highest number of inquiries into Nazi-related activities in Brazil’s digital landscape.
Between January 2021 and February 2024, the report identified 177 investigations into Nazi propaganda on social media platforms, with 82 of these cases still ongoing. Some investigations have been active for over three years, highlighting the complexity and persistence of these issues. Among the ongoing cases, at least 10 have been classified as secret, indicating they involve sensitive information that could jeopardise the investigation, endanger individuals’ safety, or undermine the judicial process — such secrecy is often necessary during local investigations to protect the identities of victims or witnesses and to prevent the potential destruction of evidence.
The findings illustrate the expansion of Terrorgram across language barriers and highlight Brazil’s troubling history of vulnerable teenagers and children being encouraged to emulate violent acts through content that glorifies criminality, as seen in the Aracruz case. However, it is essential to note that Terrorgram is merely one medium for radicalising Brazilian youth. The impact of such content could be diminished if it were not available on more widely used platforms like TikTok and Instagram. For years, far-right content has gone unmoderated on Brazilian social media, contributing to a surge in school violence last year.
Between January and April 2023, Brazil experienced a significant increase in school attacks, resulting in over fifteen victims injured or killed. This alarming wave of violence led to numerous arrests and tragic casualties, surpassing the total number of violent incidents in schools recorded over the past two decades.
Data from Brazil’s Ministry of Justice, as of June 2023, revealed that there were 2,830 ongoing investigations into school violence, resulting in more than 380 arrests. These arrests included not only adults who encouraged or facilitated the crimes but also the legal guardians of teenagers and the teenagers themselves. While a Portuguese teenager was arrested this year for allegedly radicalising a teenager involved in one of the attacks, Brazilian authorities have yet to confirm any influence from any additional foreign individuals, networks, or organisations in this concerning trend.
Many of the students involved in these attacks wore balaclavas and neo-Nazi attire, reflecting a disturbing trend fuelled by social media. At that time, another investigation I conducted revealed that Portuguese-language users were sharing fancams, manifestos, videos, and images related to actual school shootings and infamous violent criminals, such as Dylan Roof, Brenton Tarrant, and the Columbine shooters, on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok. The content circulating on these platforms has incited young Brazilians to commit similar acts of violence as a means of confronting bullying or seeking martyrdom.
For example, after tracking 112 profiles and over thirty hashtags within the “true crime” community on TikTok — a platform with over 80 million users in Brazil — we found that videos glorifying the perpetrators of massacres amassed over 344 million views in multiple languages, including English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian, highlighting the extensive reach of such content. The investigation categorised the glorification into three types: murderers, school attackers, and white supremacists, revealing that hashtags related to murderers garnered an astonishing 251 million views, while school shooter content attracted 77 million views and white supremacist hashtags drew 14.9 million views.
Notably, much of this content celebrated Brazilian school attackers, even in languages other than Portuguese, indicating a troubling trend of cross-cultural glorification of violence. For example, some Russian-language videos featured local teenagers speaking Portuguese or using phrases that seemed to be automatic translations into English, demonstrating how local narratives can transcend linguistic barriers. These videos often referenced notorious Brazilian school shooters, such as Guilherme Taucci, responsible for the 2019 Suzano massacre. This phenomenon raises critical questions about the role of social media platforms in moderating harmful content and their responsibility in preventing the spread of extremist ideologies.
Previous research has indicated that exposure to content, such as Terrorgram, can normalise violence and desensitise young audiences, leading them to view violent acts as viable means of expressing discontent with authority or escaping their reality. Furthermore, the material that radicalises these children and teenagers often employs accelerationist rhetoric to engage youthful audiences, framing violence as a necessary catalyst for societal change and tapping into their feelings of disillusionment and frustration. This approach can profoundly impact vulnerable individuals, making them more susceptible to radicalisation through persuasive narratives disseminated across various online platforms.
Conclusion
The proliferation of extremist propaganda in Brazil, particularly by networked groups like Terrorgram, necessitates a multifaceted response to counter youth radicalisation and mitigate public safety risks. This could include hiring specialised researchers to identify and automatically moderate hashtags and profiles with the names of neo-Nazi shooters or criminals. Data collected and reported indicates a concerning trend, with a near fourfold increase in police investigations into Nazi propaganda and a rise in school violence linked to the glorification of extremist ideologies. The unregulated dissemination of far-right content on social media has created a conducive environment for radicalisation among vulnerable youth. The real-world consequences of extremist content are evident in the violent incidents in schools and the disturbing narratives shared across various platforms. The accelerationist and extremist rhetoric employed by these groups not only normalises violence but also presents it as a necessary means for societal change, resonating with the disillusionment felt by many young individuals.
Sofia Schurig is a Brazilian technology reporter with a focus on human rights, child safety, and online extremism. She frequently investigates far-right radicalization among teenagers and child exploitation and is also a researcher in this field.