Australia sues Telegram over “extremist content”
Australia’s eSafety regulator has initiated federal court proceedings against Telegram, alleging the messaging platform repeatedly failed to purge the alleged graphic extremist footage, including videos of the 2019 Christchurch mosque massacres. Commissioner Julie Inman-Grant announced the legal action, warning that the company faces penalties of up to A$54.6 mln for breaching national online safety regulations.
Inman-Grant stated that the platform left content linked to historical acts of mass violence accessible to users long after regulators formally placed the company on notice. Investigators reportedly identified recordings of the Christchurch attacks, the May 2022 supermarket shooting in Buffalo, New York and multiple terrorist execution videos.
The commissioner argued that maintaining such a permissive online environment desensitises individuals, normalises violence and occasionally facilitates the coordination of real-world attacks.
International legal pressure mounts on founder Pavel Durov
The Australian enforcement action arrives amid a wave of international scrutiny directed at Telegram and its chief executive, Pavel Durov. Just a day prior to the federal court filing, Russian authorities formally charged Durov with facilitating terrorism, alleging that the messaging application had been exploited by Ukrainian intelligence services for recruitment purposes.
These developments compound ongoing legal battles for the tech executive, who was arrested in France in 2024 and placed under formal investigation for allegedly failing to enforce adequate moderation policies to curb criminal activity. Although Durov was permitted to return home months later, the French inquiry remains active, placing the platform’s operational model under intense global oversight.
Regulatory showdown and potential service bans
Relations between Australian regulators and Telegram have been fraught for years. Inman-Grant revealed that her agency began investigating the platform’s counter-terrorism measures in March 2024, only to endure five months of complete unresponsiveness from the company. Although communication eventually resumed, the eSafety commissioner maintained that the service still fosters a dangerously accessible reservoir of extremist material.
The federal filing follows a previous enforcement penalty issued in February 2025, when the eSafety office slapped Telegram with a A$1 mln fine for failing to answer statutory questions regarding child exploitation and extremist content. While Australia does not operate a formal licensing regime for digital communication platforms, Inman-Grant acknowledged that the government possesses the legal authority to petition the courts for a total service shutdown.
While authorities have never invoked such sweeping powers, the commissioner noted that officials will evaluate whether extreme measures become warranted as the court case unfolds.
In response to the legal challenge, a Telegram spokesperson asserted that the company’s anti-terrorism initiatives are extensive and well-documented. The firm firmly rejected the regulator’s claims and vowed to contest the accusations in court.
