On October 13, 2016, Islamic State (ISIS) supporters launched a "Sports News" channel on Telegram. The seemingly innocuous channel, which features a soccer ball image as its avatar and promises to "deliver to you sports news and what's going on in the playing arenas for free," is in fact promoting ISIS channels on the platform.
"Sports News" Telegram profile
The public channel garnered over 500 members within its first 24 hours of operation. Public Telegram channels have a permanent URL and are searchable via the app.
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