Telegram under Fire on Two Fronts over Terror Content
Privacy features and a light-touch approach to content moderation have long set Telegram apart from other messaging platforms, a combination that is increasingly bringing it into conflict with regulators across the world.
Telegram's founder Pavel Durov finds himself at the center of terrorism-related legal action on two continents. Photo: AOP.Press/Corbis via Getty Images
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Instant messaging service Telegram is facing mounting challenges in several countries amid allegations that it has aided terrorism and hosted terrorist material.
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was charged on 29 July by Russian authorities, who accused the entrepreneur of aiding terrorism and placed him on an international wanted list. At the same time, the platform is being targeted by the Australian government over its alleged failure to remove “pro-terror” material.
Since its creation, Telegram has occupied a unique position among messaging platforms due to its combination of encrypted chats, the ability to broadcast to large audiences and communities, and its comparatively hands-off approach to moderation, all of which have frequently brought it into conflict with regulators.
Russia Accuses Durov of Aiding Terrorism
Russian state media outlet Tass reported the country’s Federal Security Service (FSB) as saying that a search had been initiated for the St Petersburg-born Durov. However, it is unclear whether other countries are likely to cooperate with the Russian authorities in their pursuit.
The FSB statement alleged that Telegram’s management had failed to remove “channels, chats and bots” that it said are used by Ukrainian intelligence services, as well as terrorist and extremist organizations.
The security organization claimed that Telegram’s services are used to prepare and conduct “acts of sabotage and terrorism, mass murder, and cyber-fraud” in Russia, the consequences of which, it said, include human casualties and “multi-billion dollar material damage”.
According to the Tass report, FSB criminal proceedings have been underway against Durov since February this year, his actions being investigated under the umbrella of aiding terrorism – an offense that carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
Roskomnadzor, the Russian federal media monitoring agency, reportedly sent more than 150,000 requests for the removal of illegal content, requests that went unaddressed.
The 41-year-old billionaire has consistently characterized Russian proceedings against him as politically motivated.
In response to the charges, Telegram’s official X account posted an uncaptioned image of Durov holding up his middle finger to the camera.
Meanwhile, the Australian eSafety Commissioner today commenced civil proceedings against Telegram for its alleged failure to detect and remove what the commissioner referred to as “pro-terror material”, including videos of “terrorist executions and mass shootings”.
Australian codes and standards require that online services, such as Telegram, take steps to “prevent, detect, deter and disrupt the proliferation of unlawful material”, such as child sexual exploitation and abuse, pro-terror material and extreme crime and violence.
The Australian eSafety Commissioner conducted a year-long investigation, at the end of which it alleged that Telegram failed to comply with its obligations.
In addition to the alleged offenses above, the commissioner charged the platform with failing to minimize the risk of “future breaches” involving outlawed content, failing to disrupt and deter its distribution, and failing to inform complainants of the outcome of their complaints about unlawful material.
The commissioner claims that Telegram failed to detect content such as the “live streamed Christchurch Mosque shooting from 2019” and the “Buffalo mass shooting in New York from May 2022”, with such material having been uploaded to Telegram nearly three months prior to its removal.
Failure to comply with the country’s digital codes and standards could result in a financial penalty of up to A$54.6m ($38.1m).
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said that the proliferation of “pro-terror material and extreme violence” on services like Telegram risks “normalising extremist content, causing real harm to Australians who are exposed to it, and facilitating recruitment and radicalisation of at-risk individuals”.
“With the painful aftermath of the Bondi terror attack still fresh in the minds of all Australians, and ASIO’s assessment that Australia's terrorism threat level remains ‘probable’, it is more important than ever that digital platforms meet their obligations to protect the community”, Inman Grant said.
A History of Clashes
This is not the first time Telegram, or Durov personally, has clashed with national authorities.
In 2024, French police arrested Durov on arrival in the country, in connection with broad allegations concerning content moderation, as in the current case.
On that occasion, Telegram released a statement saying that its moderation practices met industry standards and were “constantly improving”, and that it was “absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform”.
Durov's clashes with the Russian authorities date back to 2014, when Kremlin allies targeted another of his ventures, the social network VKontakte (VK), after he refused to comply with government directives regarding the platform.
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