By Mark Townsend for The Guardian
Telegram is the social media app favoured by the far right. Photograph: Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
Government rhetoric on migration is increasingly “feeding” the far right, according to new analysis detailing for the first time the growing symbiotic relationship between senior Tories and the extreme rightwing.
An investigation shows that government statements and policy announcements on the issue are effectively “incubating” the far right on Telegram, the social media app where many rightwing extremists have congregated.
Analysis by the anti-fascist group Hope not Hate of 660,000 Telegram messages sent between January 2021 and March 2023 reveal significant spikes in anti-migrant hostility in the aftermath of 164 government and ministerial interventions on the issue.
During this period – when the government has become markedly more hostile towards migrants, particularly those arriving on small boats – the volume of far-right Telegram messages on the issue increased from 761 a day in 2021 to an average of 1,136 during the first months of this year.
