The chat channel of the controversial Looijcartel on Telegram has suddenly been offline since yesterday. The ‘cartel’ has been responsible for more than 2.5 years for the death threats and extreme harassment of Hilversummer Bradley van Dijk and his family, friends and neighbours. The members of the group can no longer express themselves anonymously on the platform – at least for the time being.
On Sunday evening, the main account on the anonymous chat app suddenly disappeared. The people behind the Looij cartel not only shared their threats and harassment on the channel, but also called for hatred and violence against their victims.
The group quickly switched to one of the other chat groups to resume their ‘work’. Desperation quickly sounded on the channel: none of the members seemed to understand why the channel was off the air.
Rumor stream
The group then helped spread the rumor that the channel had been taken down because an administrator was “threatened by a member of Bradley’s family.” One way the group acts more often: come up with new reasons to incite group members against Bradley and those close to him. Whether it’s true or not.
The rumor of the cartel is also false. Inquiries at Telegram learn that the channel has been removed by the platform itself. “Telegram’s terms of service explicitly prohibit calls for violence and doxing. This group has been guilty of that,” said Telegram spokesperson Remi Vaughn.
New groups also offline
Telegram seems to have the Looij cartel’s harassment groups in its sights after NH’s stories about the cartel last week. Last night, several other groups of the Looij cartel were also removed, as a result of which communication has come to a standstill, at least for the time being.
It is not clear why it took almost three years for the chat channels to be taken offline.