As the presidential election approaches, a recently designated neo-Nazi terrorist group is covertly seeding violent propaganda on to mainstream social media channels – exposing tens of thousands of unknowing followers to radicalizing messages – according to background research and a report provided to the Guardian by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD).

One of those channels on Telegram purports to be associated with Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, with an administrator claiming in group chats discovered by ISD to have had direct contact with the longtime Trump ally who is well-known for playing footsie with extremists and admitting to fomenting revolution.

The UK government listed the Terrogram collective as an official terrorist entity in April. The move spiked public interest in the shadowy network of violent neo-Nazi propagandists on Telegram that preaches accelerationism, which demands followers hasten the collapse of society through acts of terrorism.