Australia sues Telegram over alleged pro-terror content

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has filed civil penalty proceedings against Telegram in the Federal Court, alleging the messaging app failed to remove user posts linked to terrorism and allowed some pro-terror content to remain online for as long as three weeks. The regulator seeks penalties under the Online Safety Act of up to A$54.6 million.

The case follows a year-long investigation that concluded Telegram did not take adequate action after being notified of unlawful material. The regulator alleges the platform failed to remove accounts, channels and groups that repeatedly distributed pro-terror content and did not prevent the same users from returning to post further material.

The eSafety complaint says Telegram did not detect certain known extremist content until after it had been reported. The filing cites footage from the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings and the 2022 Buffalo mass shooting as examples of material that remained available on the platform before later removal. The regulator frames those failures as breaches of obligations under the Online Safety Act to act on notified illegal content.

Telegram, which is used by more than 1 billion people worldwide, has not issued a formal statement in response to the Australian proceedings. Its official X account posted a short video captioned “freedom of expression.” Telegram did not respond to requests for comment.

The Australian action comes amid other legal scrutiny of Telegram and its founder, Pavel Durov. Russian authorities this week charged Durov with facilitating terrorist activity and said they had begun procedures to place him on an international wanted list, alleging channels and bots on the service were used by intelligence services, militant groups and fraudsters.

French prosecutors have also investigated Durov after his August 2024 arrest at Le Bourget Airport, charging him with alleged complicity in distributing illegal content, including material linked to organized crime.

In an October 2025 post on X, Durov wrote: “What was once the promise of the free exchange of information is being turned into the ultimate tool of control.”

The Federal Court case will consider how Australia’s Online Safety Act applies to encrypted messaging services and whether the regulator can secure financial penalties for failures to act on notified extremist content. A court timetable for the proceedings has not been announced.