|  | Dezi Freeman's Telegram account says it was "last seen recently" at 9PM AEST |
| A social media account believed to belong to the accused Porepunkah police shooter Dezi Freeman has been used while he has been evading police, seemingly within the last day. | Earlier this week, I was tipped off to a Telegram account with a name similar to Freeman and with posts consistent with his other known social media posts and public beliefs. | Like this story? Try a free two week trial of the Sizzle, an Australian daily tech newsletter that shares the top stories, deals and fun things each day (no credit card required). | | Telegram is a social media and messaging platform that has been widely adopted by those in the Australian conspiracy theory community. | Telegram accounts have a “last seen” indicator which gives approximate information about when the account was last active. | Of the four possible options, Telegram will say that an account has been “last seen recently” when an account has been active within 2-3 days, or that it has been “last seen within a week” if an account has been active between 2-3 days and 7 days before that point. | Freeman’s Telegram currently says that it has been “last seen recently”. This means that it has been active at least within the last three days by Telegram’s definition — seemingly meaning it’s been used since the morning of the 26th of August when Freeman’s allegedly killed two police and injured another. | In fact, it seems that this Telegram account has been used within the last 24 hours. When I looked at Freeman’s account on Thursday morning, it said it was “last seen recently”, putting its use within a window that preceded the attack. Then, by Thursday evening, it changed to “last seen within a week”, again consistent with use before the attack. | Sometime since yesterday afternoon, the account changed back to “last seen recently”, suggesting it has been used within that time. | The identity of the person who used Freeman’s account is unknown. Anyone with access to a device previously logged into Telegram could have used it. This could feasibly include police accessing another device owned by Freeman, Freeman himself, or another third party. | According to dozens of Telegram messages sent by Freeman’s account in a channel belonging to one Australian far right figure since 2022, the account was used mostly to post violent messages about police. | Freeman’s account did not respond to a message or an invitation to join a phone call. |
|