A drill rapper who backed ISIS and was imprisoned after stockpiling chemicals for a planned suicide bombing in London may still be earning money from social media and streaming profiles that remain live, it has been revealed.
Music and video content linked to Al-Arfat Hassan can still be found on major platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube, where listeners continue to play his tracks and some supporters have called for him to be freed.
Hassan, who performs under the drill rap name Official TS, has previously uploaded videos that attracted more than 13 million views, while his TikTok profile has drawn over 833,000 likes.
The continued online support for Hassan, now 23, comes more than two years after he was sentenced at the Old Bailey in February 2024 to five years in prison, with a further two years on extended licence.
During the case, the court was told that Hassan, from Enfield in North London, had viewed the same Islamic State bomb-making video watched by Manchester Arena attacker Salman Abedi, who killed 22 people after an Ariana Grande concert, and had obtained two of the three chemicals required to build a comparable device.
The extent of Hassan’s followers and millions of views means he could be in line for payments under social media and music streaming giants’ policies on monetarised content.
Conservative MP Sir John Hayes said it was ‘entirely inappropriate’ that Hassan’s material is still available online and that money earned should be handed to those who have suffered from terrorism, such as ‘families whose loved ones have died’.
He said: ‘It’s entirely inappropriate that is material is still online. It’s incitement to terror.
Al-Arfat Hassan, from Enfield, north London, (pictured) was sentenced to five years in prison at the Old Bailey in 2024 for possessing chemicals for a terrorist purpose
‘I shall be writing to the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport saying they need to make contact with these companies because they are responsible for promoting this material online.’
He added that a man convicted of terrorism offences ‘should not be allowed’ to continue spreading his message online.
Sir John said: ‘This also sets a dangerous precedent because if we don’t take action, who’s to say there won’t be other people who are imprisoned who maintain a public profile inciting violence, crime or terrorism?’
Hassan’s instagram account continues to describe him simply as a “Musician” and directs visitors towards music streaming services.
His music also remains available on Apple Music and Spotify, including a track called Satan 2.0 and other music released before his arrest.
After Hassan was jailed, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation later described him as a drill rapper who was ‘lyrically inspired by Islamic State’.
Hassan’s music initially contained lyrics about violent street life but shifted towards Islamic extremism in the years before he was jailed.
In 2022 track, Habibti, he included reference to extreme jihadist violence, rapping: ‘I don’t do love – I’m a full-time mujahid.
‘Married to the gun and the sword, I’m charging. If I chop them multiple times with a axe, they’ll fall on their… knees.’
Last week, the track remained publicly available on YouTube, where it has been viewed 79,000 times.
An unreleased track discovered by police referred to Western hostages murdered by ISIS, including British aid worker Alan Henning and American journalist James Foley, and ended with a reference to an explosion in central London.
Hassan even claimed women had been attracted to the “jihadi persona” he cultivated online.
There is no suggestion Hassan is personally operating any social media account from prison or has posted new material since his arrest.
Hassan’s drill music – including tracks appearing to glorify Islamic extremism – remains online
The revelations come amid mounting pressure on social media giants over their handling of potentially harmful material and protection of young users.
The continued presence of Hassan’s social media accounts means he still receives supportive messages.
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One Instagram user wrote just 11 weeks ago: ‘Release ts soon. Inshallah’, while another recently insisted: ‘Free bro he’s innocent’.
Other messages include ‘free TS our brother in Islam’, ‘Home soon my brother’ and ‘free TS a thousand times’.
Hassan’s music brought him into contact with a 15-year-old fan who became embroiled in his terror case.
The then-schoolboy, Sameer Anjum, discovered Official TS online in 2020 and became a fan of his drill music, promoting it on social media himself.
Anjum caught Hassan’s attention and the rapper contacted him personally to thank him.
The pair began communicating regularly on social media, with the teenager becoming such a fan that he began calling himself “Young TS”.
Their relationship then took a sinister turn, with their conversations increasingly involving extremist material and terrorism.
Police closed in on Hassan, from Enfield, north London, in March 2022 after he bought hydrogen peroxide.
Prosecutors said he wanted to “kill thousands” and had considered carrying out an attack in central London using either explosives or a bladed weapon.
Investigators found terrorist material containing instructions on bomb-making and how to kill someone with a knife.
Hassan had also filmed himself with weapons, including a samurai sword, and talked about his “final moments”.
Messages revealed he used “cupcake” as a code word for a bomb and “marketplace” for a potential target.
He was initially charged with preparing acts of terrorism, but a jury failed to reach a verdict and a retrial was later discontinued.
Hassan subsequently pleaded guilty to alternative terrorism offences, including possessing hydrogen peroxide for a terrorist purpose and possessing information likely to be useful to a terrorist.
The then 21-year-old was handed a five-year extended sentence, with a two-year licence period, at the Old Bailey in February 2024.
His teenage acolyte Anjum, now 19, was jailed for two and a half years after admitting failing to disclose his knowledge of Hassan’s terrorist activities, and possessing and sharing ISIS videos.
Anjum’s mother Nabeela Anjum was later convicted of failing to disclose information to police and jailed for two years.
Revelations Hassan’s social media accounts remain online come amid mounting pressure on social media giants over their handling of potentially harmful material and protection of young users.
MPs last week demanded answers from TikTok, Meta, YouTube and Snapchat over videos appearing to glorify dangerous driving.
The Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee warned of the danger of copycat behaviour and asked the companies how much UK dangerous-driving content they had removed and what they were doing to identify harmful videos more quickly.
Committee chair Dame Caroline Dinenage said it was ‘shocking’ that videos glorifying dangerous driving could be so easily accessed online.
The intervention followed the deaths of two police officers and five young men in a head-on crash on the A66 in Teesside.
Hassan has 52,000 TikTok followers, which qualifies him as a content creator. Creators can receive 74p per 1,000 views.
Spotify pays people whose tracks have at least one thousand streams over 12 months. Meanwhile, Apple Music pays artists £7 per thousand streams.
Apple, YouTube, TikTok and Spotify were contacted for comment.