Australia’s internet regulator announced on 30th July it would take action against messaging giant Telegram over its “deficiencies” in combating pro-terror messaging.
The office of the eSafety Commissioner said it had started action following Telegram’s refusal to remove videos of terrorist executions and mass shootings.
This case is related to some of the most widely known acts of extremist violence in recent history, such as material connected to the Christchurch and Buffalo terror attacks, eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in a statement.
“We allege that this content was not removed from the service after Telegram was notified to take the content down.”
“Failure to comply with Australia’s codes and standards could result in civil penalties of up to A$54.6 million ($38 million),” the statement said.
Telegram has responded to a request for comment by saying, “We reject these allegations, and we will fight them in court.”
The efforts of the platform against extremism and terrorism have been well documented, the spokesperson added, and thousands of extremist communities were blocked on the platform in 2026 alone.
In a court filing, eSafety said Australian Telegram users reported complaining to the platform about seeing 12 posts containing pro-terror content from July to October 2025, including three which contained known terrorist content.
But the platform failed to take down 10 of the posts or suspend or block the accounts that posted the material, the filing added.
According to the company, Telegram is one of the world’s top downloaded apps with over 1 billion monthly active users.
Its founder, Russian-born Pavel Durov, left Russia in 2014, moving himself and the company to Dubai in 2017.
The site has emerged as a key source of information about Russia’s war in Ukraine, and is heavily trafficked by both Moscow and Kyiv officials.
On Wednesday, Russia accused Durov of aiding and abetting terrorist activities, claiming that the app was helping to organise attacks within Russia by Ukrainian spies.
