RIYADH — Thanks to the cooperation between the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology (Etidal) and the Telegram platform, between Jan. 1 and March 30 of this year, 6,004,218 pieces with extremist content has been removed.

In addition the two have also helped close 1,840 channels spreading and promoting extremist ideology, belonging to three terrorist organizations (ISIS [Daesh] — Al-Qaeda — Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham).

The Etidal team identified and monitored the activity of the three terrorist organizations, in Arabic, on Telegram.

It discovered 2,773,902 pieces with extremist content on 477 channels belonging to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, 1,807,215 such pieces on 1,040 channels belonging to Daesh, and 1,423,101 pieces on 323 channels belonging to Al-Qaeda.

On Jan. 9, 2023, the Etidal monitoring team recorded a peek in broadcasting activity on Telegram, with 451,911 pieces of content being shared and referred to, and on March 27, it recorded a peek in account creation, with over 101 channels established in a single day.

The cooperation between Etidal and Telegram continues for the second year in a row, bringing the number of items removed from February 2022 until now to 21,026,169; they consisted of extremist content and 8,664 extremist channels, which were closed. — SPA