Australia’s eSafety Commissioner began civil penalty proceedings against Telegram in the Federal Court on Thursday. The regulator alleges the messaging platform, used by more than one billion people worldwide, breached obligations under the Online Safety Act by failing to address pro-terror content after receiving multiple user complaints.
A year-long investigation found that Telegram did not remove certain unlawful material after becoming aware of it. Some reported items remained accessible for as long as three weeks. The authority further alleged that the platform took insufficient measures to stop repeated violations, including the removal of accounts, channels and groups used to share the material.
eSafety also claimed Telegram failed to detect known extremist content, including footage linked to the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks and the 2022 Buffalo shooting, before the items were later taken down. The regulator is seeking financial penalties. Breaches of Australia’s online safety rules can attract fines of up to 54.6 million Australian dollars, or about 35.8 million US dollars.
The Australian action follows heightened legal scrutiny of the platform in other jurisdictions. Russia’s Federal Security Service charged Telegram chief executive Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activity and initiated steps to place him on an international wanted list. Authorities there alleged the service failed to remove channels, chats and bots used by various groups for coordination and related activities.
Durov remains under investigation in France after his arrest in August 2024 at Le Bourget Airport. French prosecutors charged him with offenses that include complicity in the distribution of illegal content connected to organized crime through the platform.
Telegram has issued no formal response to the Australian proceedings. Its official account on X posted a video captioned with a reference to freedom of expression. The company has also not commented officially on the Russian developments, though it shared an image of Durov. Durov has previously argued that governments are increasing controls over online platforms and reducing protections for free information exchange.