The Department of Justice has levied charges against two individuals who they say were involved in a white supremacist group on the Telegram social media platform that they used to try to stir a race war by spreading content that was hateful.
The two suspects in the case — 37-year-old Matthew Allison and 34-year-old Dallas Humber — have been charged in an indictment that had 15 counts.
In a press release, the DOJ announced that the two are being charged with soliciting the murder of federal officials, conspiring to provide material support for terrorists and soliciting hate crimes.
Both Allison, who is from Boise, Idaho, and Humber, who is from Elk Grove, California, were arrested by local law enforcement officials, according to the DOJ.
The indictment alleges that Allison and Humber led the “Terrorgram Collective,” which is a transnational terrorist group that operated on the Telegram social media platform.
According to federal prosecutors, they used the Telegram channel to promote “white supremacist accelerationism” as well as the idea that terrorism and violence were “necessary to ignite a race war and accelerate the collapse of the government and the rise of a white ethnostate.”
The indictment also accuses them of soliciting other followers through their Telegram channel, so that people would attack others who were perceived to be enemies of white people. This includes energy facilities, government buildings and other “high-value” targets including politicians.
Prosecutors said that the people who carried out the acts of violence were told they’d become called “Saints.”
Humber and Allison used Telegram to transmit instructions on how to make bombs as well as distribute a list of people they might target for assassination. DOJ officials said that list included a senator, a former U.S. attorney and a federal judge.
They also encouraged other users to celebrate plots or acts of terror from other users in the “Terrorgram” group.
In a statement regarding the indictment and arrests, Attorney General Merrick Garland said:
“Today’s arrests are a warning that committing hate-fueled crimes in the darkest corners of the internet will not hide you, and soliciting terrorist attacks from behind a screen will not protect you. The United States Department of Justice will find you, and we will hold you accountable.”
On Monday, Humber pleaded not guilty to all the charges levied against him in a courtroom in Sacramento, California.
Fox News Digital reached out to Humber’s attorney for a comment, but did not hear back. The news outlet also reported that it wasn’t clear whether Allison had retained an attorney who could speak for him.
Telegram has been in the news for the wrong reasons recently. Its CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France recently and is facing charges of allowing criminal activity on his platform.
He posted recently on that platform, vowing that he would increase moderation and oversight on Telegram, though he also defended his company and himself, saying that his arrest was misguided.
