A Data-Driven Analysis of the Sovereign Citizens Movement on Telegram

TL;DR

This study analyzes Telegram channels of Sovereign Citizens, revealing their online activity patterns, ideological overlaps with QAnon, and differences from other extremist groups, using NLP on over 888,000 messages.

Contribution

First detailed NLP-based analysis of Sovereign Citizens' online activity, highlighting ideological overlaps and differences with other extremist groups.

Findings

Channels differ in discussed topics

Channels exhibit less toxicity than QAnon

Overlap of beliefs with QAnon

Abstract

Online communities of known extremist groups like the alt-right and QAnon have been well explored in past work. However, we find that an extremist group called Sovereign Citizens is relatively unexplored despite its existence since the 1970s. Their main belief is delegitimizing the established government with a tactic called paper terrorism, clogging courts with pseudolegal claims. In recent years, their activities have escalated to threats like forcefully claiming property ownership and participating in the Capitol Riot. This paper aims to shed light on Sovereign Citizens' online activities by examining two Telegram channels, each belonging to an identified Sovereign Citizen individual. We collect over 888K text messages and apply NLP techniques. We find that the two channels differ in the topics they discussed, demonstrating different focuses. Further, the two channels exhibit less toxic content compared to other extremist groups like QAnon. Finally, we find indications of overlapping beliefs between the two channels and QAnon, suggesting a merging or complementing of beliefs.