‘Useful Idiots’ Recruited Online in UK Far-Right Vandalism Plot against Muslims
Vandalism of mosques, schools and community centers in the UK has been driven by an online far-right channel recruiting for a wave of graffiti incidents.
Extremism experts told The National that offers of £100 ($130) appeared on the Telegram messaging app to draw in people – described as “useful idiots” by campaign groups – who could prove they sprayed anti-Muslim graffiti on the buildings in London.
The graffiti was found on seven buildings in the UK capital at the beginning of the year. At the time, the Metropolitan Police said it was investigating “a series of shocking hate crimes”.
Tech Against Terrorism, a non-profit organization which monitors online extremism, shared the name of the channel and its tactics with The National on condition the name was not revealed. The organization is concerned that such exposure could trigger copycats.
Tell Mama, which records anti-Muslim hate in the UK, has also encountered the group and shared similar material before a report it is due to publish next week.
Adam Hadley, Tech Against Terrorism's founder and chief executive, told The National its inquiry was sparked by the growing number of mosques being graffitied with derogatory, xenophobic, Islamophobic symbols and words.
“It seemed to be quite co-ordinated,” he said. “There was quite a lot of activity over a short amount of time.”
The investigations into the channel set up in September last year suggested that there was someone “driving this activity”, he said.
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Hadley said researchers began accessing Telegram accounts linked to vandalism and within 15 minutes encountered “the name of a far-right organization that we've never heard of that was promoting graffiti for mosques around the UK and specifically London”.
In the channel they found bomb-making manuals associated with extreme far-right and sometimes Islamist extremists. The organization informed the police about what it had found.
Tech Against Terrorism researchers found the content was unlikely to have been created by bots and the authors “seemed to be real”. They concluded that a foreign state was probably behind the activity.
“We looked through all of our records and this group just came out from nowhere. It’s hard to describe, but the sense of the language was a bit wrong. It just didn't seem right,” Hadley said.
“And clearly this fits with well-known methodologies of foreign intelligence services who aim to employ useful idiots engaged in low-level crime on their behalf.
“We assessed it almost certainly was an inauthentic activity. Likely from a nation state – who else would have the technical infrastructure to do this?”
Uk Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced in September that mosques and Islamic centers in the UK are to be granted £10 million in extra security funding in response to a rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes. He visited Peacehaven mosque, on the south coast, where an attack was carried out.
The money is providing CCTV, alarm systems, secure fencing and security personnel services and builds on the £29.4 million already available this year for mosques and Muslim faith schools.
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Figures released by the UK Home Office have highlighted a “clear spike” in anti-Muslim hate crime since August 2024, after the communal riots in several English towns and cities.
Iman Atta, director of Tell Mama, said its researchers were also able to link the vandalism to the same Telegram channel.
“What we found out is that the group had links to a group of Russian-based hacktivists who were looking to foment tensions and encourage those who are on the far right of the spectrum in the UK to vandalize mosques. They offered £100 to commit to acts of vandalism.
“So for them, doing an act of vandalism towards a mosque and learning how to avoid cameras, what kind of paint to use, what time to do it, and earning money on the back of it is not something that they'll say no to.”
Atta said attacks have led to increased anxiety among those affected and among the broader Muslim community.
“I think there's been a heightened effort of fear and anxiety with the Muslim communities already,” she said.
“Since October 7 there has been an increase in anti-Muslim hatred in the UK, but seeing the targeting of Islamic schools, mosques and centers, that’s even more alarming for communities.”
While the channel itself is now closed, the activities of these individuals “most probably is still ongoing” and so could resurface, she said.
Hadley said a new organization is needed to work alongside the police and security services to tackle online extremism, which harnesses the expertise of people in the private and non-profit sectors.
“I think there is a broader kind of problem here because we know that the majority, if not all, of terrorist prosecutions involve the internet.
“There's a case only a few weeks ago of some neo-Nazis being prosecuted for preparing a terrorist attack, and they never met. Their entire radicalization journey was online.
“There is a framing problem here in that a lot of the traditional analysis and counter-terrorism hasn’t quite realized how quickly things have changed and how fundamental the internet is to the radicalization journey.”
Stratford Mosque, one of the organizations that was vandalized, referred The National to a statement it issued at the time of the incident.
“Our mosque has been part of this community since 1993, and in all that time, we've only known kindness and respect from our neighbors,” it read.
“Those responsible for this act of hate have shamed only themselves. This is not an act of faith – it's an act of cowardice. But they will not intimidate us. We will not live in fear. Together, as a united community, we will stand strong.”
The Met Police and Telegram have been contacted for a response.
Source: thenationalnews.com
