The Telegram messaging app briefly disappeared from the Apple App Store after the company discovered content on the app that was in violation of a ban on child sexual abuse material.

Some users in the US, India, Australia, and Singapore failed to find the app, but it was restored to their country-wide availability.

“After our review, we removed Telegram from the App Store briefly because of content that violates our strict guidelines that prohibit the distribution of child sexual abuse material,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement. The app was then deleted afterwards when the developer removed the content and banned the content poster in a timely fashion.

“Apple reported one user sharing child sexual abuse material, which was banned immediately,” a Telegram spokesperson said. “This year, over 300,000 groups and channels containing this type of content have been deleted from Telegram, the spokesperson said.”

In 2024, the billionaire co-founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, was handed a travel ban in France after he was charged with being involved in the dissemination of sexual images of children on his platform and other crimes. He has been vociferous in his condemnation of efforts to impose bans on Telegram.

Last week, Durov was charged by Russia with aiding in the work of terrorism, and the Russian authorities have accused him of allowing the popular messaging app to be used by the Ukrainian security services. According to Dubai-based Telegram, they have over 1 billion monthly active users.