RIYADH — By the end of the third quarter of 2024, a total of 129,634,467 pieces of extremist content have been removed and 14,516 extremist channels on the platform have been closed since February 2022. This was the outcome of the collaboration of the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology (Etidal) and the Telegram in combating extremist content, the Saudi Press Agency reported. In the third quarter of 2024, the joint team monitored and eliminated propaganda from three terrorist organizations: ISIS, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, and Al-Qaeda. A total of 35,634,916 items with extremist content were removed, and 323 extremist channels were shut down. Among these, ISIS topped the list with 34,602,606 pieces removed and 189 channels closed, followed by Hay'at Tahrir Al-Sham with 768,821 items removed and 87 channels closed, and Al-Qaeda with 263,489 items removed and 47 channels closed during this period. An increase in the propaganda activity of the terrorist organization ISIS was noted, with the peak of that activity coming on September 13, 2024, when it broadcast 1,283,141 million items with extremist content. The Etidal-Telegram partnership aims to prevent and combat terrorism and violent extremism by monitoring and removing terrorist propaganda published in Arabic on the platform.
