Australia’s internet regulator has launched legal action against messaging platform Telegram, alleging the company failed to adequately remove pro-terrorism content from its service.
The Office of the eSafety Commissioner said the case followed Telegram’s alleged failure to take down videos depicting terrorist executions and mass shootings.
“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 in a statement.
“We allege that this content remained accessible on the service long after Telegram had been put on notice.”
The regulator said breaches of Australia’s online safety codes and standards could attract civil penalties of up to A$54.6 million (US$38 million).
Telegram denied the allegations and said it would challenge the case.
“We reject these allegations and will contest them in court,” a Telegram spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that the platform’s anti-terrorism efforts were well established, noting that thousands of extremist communities had been blocked in 2026 alone.
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According to court filings, Australian Telegram users reported 12 posts containing pro-terror content between July and October 2025, including three posts identified as known terrorist material. The eSafety Commissioner alleges Telegram failed to remove 10 of the posts or suspend the accounts responsible.
Telegram, which says it has more than one billion monthly active users, was founded by Russian-born entrepreneur Pavel Durov, who left Russia in 2014 and relocated the company to Dubai in 2017.
The platform has become a major source of information during Russia’s war in Ukraine and is widely used by officials in both Moscow and Kyiv.
Separately, Russia on Wednesday charged Durov with facilitating terrorist activity, alleging that Telegram was used by Ukrainian spies to organise attacks inside Russia. Durov and Telegram have not publicly responded to those charges in the context of this report.
