Regulationjul 30, 2026

Australia Seeks AUD 54.6M Fine From Telegram Over Terror-Content Failures

eSafety's Federal Court case cites a year-long probe, content left up 21 days, and missed Christchurch and Buffalo shooting footage.

Elena Vasquez

DeFi & Protocols. Elena tracks total value locked,

2 min read

Australia Seeks AUD 54.6M Fine From Telegram Over Terror-Content Failures

Australia’s eSafety Commissioner has filed civil penalty proceedings against Telegram in the Federal Court, seeking fines of up to 54.6 million Australian dollars (roughly $35.8 million) over the platform’s alleged failure to remove terrorism-linked content. The suit, filed Thursday, caps a year-long investigation and lands a single day after Russian authorities charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activity.

eSafety alleges Telegram breached obligations under Australia’s Online Safety Act by failing to act on repeated user complaints about “pro-terror” material. According to the regulator, some flagged content remained visible on the platform for as long as three weeks after being reported.

What the regulator says it found

The Federal Court filing accuses Telegram of not doing enough to stop repeat violations — including failing to remove accounts, channels and groups that were distributing the same unlawful material after initial takedowns. eSafety also says Telegram did not detect known extremist footage circulating on its platform, specifically video from the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks and the 2022 Buffalo mass shooting, before that content was eventually removed.

The maximum penalty being sought, 54.6 million Australian dollars, is the statutory ceiling for breaches of the Online Safety Act and would rank among the largest fines a national regulator has pursued against Telegram to date. Telegram has more than 1 billion users globally, and Australian officials argue the platform’s scale makes lax moderation of terror-linked material a systemic risk rather than an isolated lapse.

A second legal front opens for Durov’s company

The Australian case adds to mounting legal pressure on Telegram and its founder across multiple jurisdictions. Russia’s Federal Security Service charged Durov with aiding terrorism just a day before the eSafety filing, and Durov already faces separate legal proceedings in France stemming from earlier allegations about platform moderation. The overlapping timelines put Telegram’s content-moderation practices under simultaneous scrutiny from regulators and law-enforcement bodies in three countries.

Telegram has not issued a formal response to the Australian proceedings. Its official account on X posted a video captioned “freedom of expression” following the filing, but the company has not addressed eSafety’s specific allegations about the Christchurch and Buffalo footage or the three-week takedown delays.

Why it matters for GRAM holders

Telegram’s regulatory exposure is directly relevant to holders of GRAM, the token tied to The Open Network ecosystem Durov has promoted, since legal action against the company and its founder has repeatedly weighed on sentiment around the asset. A court loss or a drawn-out Federal Court battle in Australia would extend the run of headline risk facing Telegram just as it navigates parallel legal processes in Russia and France, keeping compliance costs and reputational uncertainty elevated for any crypto products built on top of the platform.