Layers of Lies: A First Look at Irish Far-Right Activity on Telegram

The report examines 34 Irish far-right Telegram channels, revealing a massive increase in activity between 2019 and 2020. It details how these communities use the platform's limited moderation to target minorities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and political opponents through orchestrated disinformation campaigns. Case studies show the far-right's role in inciting racial tension following the shooting of George Nkencho, spreading false claims about a house fire in Balbriggan, and launching a homophobic smear campaign against Minister Roderic O'Gorman. The analysis also highlights a significant intersection between far-right actors and COVID-19 conspiracy networks.

• There was a massive surge in Irish far-right activity on Telegram between 2019 and 2020, with the number of messages increasing by 7,438%. In 2019, a small number of channels posted 801 messages, whereas 34 channels posted 60,377 messages in 2020.
• Far-right Telegram channels in Ireland orchestrate disinformation campaigns to incite racial and social tension. Following the shooting of George Nkencho, channels provided specific instructions to followers to 'make memes, dig up stats, turn on your VPN and get trolling' and to use racial slurs like 'joggers' to provoke Black people on other social media platforms.
• The Irish far-right uses Telegram to launch targeted harassment and homophobic smear campaigns. A campaign against Minister Roderic O'Gorman used the platform to amplify baseless claims that he was a 'paedophile apologist', which then served as an entry point for wider attacks against the LGBTQ+ community in Ireland.
• Far-right actors use Telegram to spread racist tropes and disinformation about specific locations. In Balbriggan, channels promoted the false claim that a house fire was caused by 'African drug gangs', leveraging a pre-existing narrative that synonymises Blackness with criminality.
• There is a significant intersection between far-right movements and COVID-19 conspiracy networks in Ireland. Analysis of nine COVID-19 conspiracy channels found that 9% of all messages originated from a far-right source, with some individual far-right activists exerting high influence across the entire network.
• Hostility toward mainstream media and researchers is a core tactic of the Irish far-right. During anti-mask protests and the Nkencho incident, channels used Telegram to label news reports as 'blatant lies' and spread conspiracy theories that researchers from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) were funded by MI5.

APA

Institute for Strategic Dialogue (2021). Layers of Lies: A First Look at Irish Far-Right Activity on Telegram. https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Layers-of-Lies.pdf

Chicago

Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Layers of Lies: A First Look at Irish Far-Right Activity on Telegram. 2021. https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Layers-of-Lies.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Institute for Strategic Dialogue |title=Layers of Lies: A First Look at Irish Far-Right Activity on Telegram |date=2021 |url=https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Layers-of-Lies.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{instituteforstrategicdialogue2021layers, author = {{Institute for Strategic Dialogue}}, title = {{Layers of Lies: A First Look at Irish Far-Right Activity on Telegram}}, institution = {Institute for Strategic Dialogue}, year = {2021}, url = {https://www.isdglobal.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Layers-of-Lies.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }