Australia’s online safety regulator has taken Telegram to court, accusing the platform of failing to police extremist material and seeking penalties of up to A$54.6 million, or about $38 million. The regulator also raised the prospect of asking a court to shut the service down in Australia.
Civil penalty case filed in Federal Court
The eSafety Commissioner filed civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court on Thursday after a year-long investigation. The regulator alleges Telegram failed to detect known pro-terror material, including the live-streamed 2019 Christchurch mosque shooting and content tied to the 2022 Buffalo supermarket attack. According to the filing, the Buffalo material stayed on the platform for nearly three months.
The case also argues that Telegram’s terms of service did not prohibit pro-terror material across all parts of the app.
Regulator says extremist material was easy to find
Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, told BBC News that Telegram had maintained a “permissive environment” where extremist content was “very easy to find.” She said such material “only serves to desensitise, to normalise and to sometimes radicalise” users. She added that Telegram was also “sometimes used to plan attacks.”
Inman Grant said Australia does not license platforms, but added: “We could apply to the federal court and ask that the service be ceased.” She also said, “We’ve never used those powers. We’ll see how this all plays out.”
Telegram had previously been fined over delays
In February last year, the regulator issued Telegram an infringement notice for nearly $1 million after the company took five months to answer questions about terrorist material and child sexual exploitation material. Telegram called that penalty “unfair and disproportionate” at the time and said it would appeal.
Pressure builds across three jurisdictions
The Australian filing came a day after Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with aiding terrorism and placed him on an international wanted list. Russian authorities allege the platform failed to remove channels used by Ukrainian intelligence and extremist groups. If convicted there, Durov faces up to life in prison.
Durov is also facing a separate case in France. He was indicted there in 2024 over drug trafficking, organized fraud, and child sexual abuse material on Telegram, and was later released under judicial supervision. Durov has denied wrongdoing and described the French case as “legally and logically absurd.”
A Telegram spokesperson told the BBC that the company’s “extensive” anti-terrorism efforts were “well documented.” The spokesperson added: “We reject these allegations and will contest them in court.”
A test for Australia’s 2021 platform law
The lawsuit is also shaping up as a test of Australia’s 2021 law requiring platforms to keep pro-terror material off their networks. It comes shortly after Australia moved to ban social media for users under 16, a measure led by Inman Grant.