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Australia isn’t waiting anymore. The country’s eSafety Commissioner has taken Telegram to Federal Court, filing civil penalty proceedings that accuse the platform of repeatedly ignoring its legal duties to pull extremist content off its service. It’s a hard move — and one that could cost Telegram up to 54.6 million Australian dollars, roughly $35.8 million USD, if the court sides with regulators.
The core of the case is pretty straightforward. Telegram users filed complaints about pro-terrorism content circulating on the platform. The eSafety Commissioner’s office looked into it and found that some of that material stayed up for as long as three weeks after being flagged. Three weeks. That’s not a technical glitch — that’s a policy failure, at least according to the regulator. And it didn’t stop there. The Commissioner says Telegram also failed to take basic steps to stop repeat offenses: no removal of the accounts spreading the content, no shutting down the groups hosting it. The specific material named in the proceedings includes footage from the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings and the 2022 Buffalo shooting — videos that have been widely banned across other major platforms for years.
Telegram hasn’t said a word publicly about the Australian case.
Christchurch and Buffalo Footage Still Circulating
That’s probably the most damaging detail in the whole filing. Both the Christchurch and Buffalo shootings produced footage that went viral in the immediate aftermath and has since been treated as a category of content that responsible platforms are expected to remove on sight. Most big social networks built automated detection tools specifically to catch these clips. The fact that Australian regulators found them still accessible on Telegram — weeks after users reported them — will be hard for the company to explain away in court.
The Online Safety Act gives the eSafety Commissioner real teeth. Platforms operating in Australia have clear obligations to act on reports of harmful content, and the law sets out financial penalties for non-compliance. Telegram’s scale doesn’t exempt it. If anything, regulators seem to think that’s exactly the point — big platforms with large user bases carry bigger responsibilities, not smaller ones.
And the silence from Telegram’s side is striking. No press release, no statement to Australian media, nothing. The company’s official account on X posted something vague about “freedom of expression” around the time some of these international pressures started building, but it wasn’t directed at Australia specifically and didn’t address any of the factual allegations.
Pavel Durov Faces Charges in Russia and France
Australia is just one front. Telegram and its CEO Pavel Durov are dealing with serious legal problems in at least two other jurisdictions right now.
In Russia, authorities charged Durov with facilitating terrorist activities. The accusation is that Telegram refused to remove channels and bots that were being used to coordinate attacks and recruit members. Russian officials have also pushed to place Durov on an international wanted list, which would complicate his ability to travel. The charges frame Telegram not as a passive platform but as an active enabler — a framing that’s clearly going to follow the company into other courtrooms.
France is a separate situation but arguably the most dramatic one. Durov was arrested at Le Bourget Airport in August 2024. French prosecutors charged him with complicity in distributing illegal content through Telegram, specifically material tied to organized crime. He’s been vocal about what he sees as government overreach into internet privacy — but that’s a philosophical argument, and French courts are going to want something more concrete.
Three countries. Three separate legal tracks. That’s a lot of legal exposure for a company that still hasn’t issued a comprehensive public response to any of it.
Durov has talked broadly about protecting free speech and resisting governmental pressure on private communications. It’s a position that plays well with a certain audience. But it’s kind of hard to square that framing with footage of mass shootings staying live for weeks because nobody acted on the complaints.
The broader picture here is one that’s been building for a while across the tech industry. Regulators in Europe, Australia, and elsewhere have grown increasingly impatient with platforms that treat content moderation as optional or purely voluntary. Laws like Australia’s Online Safety Act were written precisely because self-regulation wasn’t working. Telegram’s situation is probably the sharpest test of those laws so far.
No trial date has been set in the Australian proceedings. Telegram’s potential fine of up to 54.6 million Australian dollars remains the ceiling — actual penalties, if any, would be determined by the Federal Court based on the specifics of what the Commissioner can prove.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Australia’s eSafety Commissioner accusing Telegram of?
The eSafety Commissioner says Telegram failed to remove pro-terrorism content, including footage from the 2019 Christchurch and 2022 Buffalo shootings, with some material remaining visible for up to three weeks after user reports.
How much could Telegram be fined in Australia?
The civil penalty proceedings could result in fines of up to 54.6 million Australian dollars, equivalent to approximately $35.8 million USD, under Australia’s Online Safety Act.
