Australia’s online safety regulator has begun court proceedings against Telegram, accusing the messaging platform of failing to take down material promoting terrorism after being notified.
The Office of the eSafety Commissioner said the case centres on videos of terrorist executions and mass shootings that remained accessible on the service.
“This case concerns content linked to some of the most notorious acts of known extremist violence in recent history, including material associated with the Christchurch and Buffalo terror attacks,” eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said. “We allege that this content remained accessible on the service long after Telegram had been put on notice.” Companies that breach Australia’s online safety codes risk civil penalties of up to A$54.6 million (about US$38 million).
Telegram rejected the claims. “We reject these allegations and will contest them in court,” a company spokesperson said, adding that Telegram’s anti-terrorism work is well documented and that the platform blocked thousands of extremist communities in 2026 alone.
Court documents state that Australian users reported 12 posts containing alleged pro-terror material between July and October 2025, including three that featured known terrorist content. The regulator alleges Telegram failed to remove 10 of those posts or to suspend or block the accounts that published them.
Telegram, which has more than one billion monthly active users, was founded by Russian-born entrepreneur Pavel Durov. He left Russia in 2014 and moved the company to Dubai in 2017. The platform is widely used for information about the war in Ukraine by officials on both sides.
The Australian action comes a day after Russian authorities charged Durov with facilitating terrorist activity, alleging Ukrainian intelligence services used Telegram to organise attacks inside Russia.
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