16m items of extremist online content removed.

The Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology and messaging platform Telegram removed more than 16 million online items of extremist content and closed down 445 channels in the first quarter of 2024.

The center, also known as Etidal, said that the deleted channels belonged to three terrorist organizations: Daesh, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham and Al-Qaeda. The content included audio, video and PDF files in Arabic.

More than 11.6 million items of Daesh content were removed and 187 channels closed, while Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham lost over 3.2 million items and 186 channels, and Al-Qaeda lost 1.6 million items and 72 channels.

Etidal began collaborating with Telegram in February 2022 to monitor and identify extremist content posted in Arabic. It has since helped identify and remove more than 75 million items of an extremist nature and close 13,533 related channels.

The cooperation agreement aims to protect Telegram users from extremist content and harmful ideological influences.