Australia Sues Telegram for Leaving Christchurch and Buffalo Massacre Videos Online

Australia's internet regulator is taking Telegram to court over claims the messaging app sat on terrorist content for months after being told about it.

The eSafety Commissioner's office announced Thursday it filed legal action against Telegram, alleging the platform failed to remove videos tied to the Christchurch, New Zealand mosque shootings and the Buffalo, New York supermarket massacre. Both attacks were livestreamed by the shooters and became grim touchstones for how extremist content spreads online.

"This case concerns content linked to some of the most notorious acts of known extremist violence in recent history," eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in a statement, according to the New York Post. "We allege that this content remained accessible on the service long after Telegram had been put on notice."

What the Filing Actually Alleges

According to a court filing cited by the New York Post, Australian Telegram users reported 12 posts containing pro-terror content to the platform between July and October 2025. Three of those posts allegedly contained material the platform already knew was tied to known terrorist attacks.

The filing claims Telegram failed to take down 10 of the 12 flagged posts and did not suspend or block the accounts responsible. That's the core of Australia's case: not that Telegram has zero moderation, but that it didn't act on specific, repeated complaints about specific, identified extremist content.

If eSafety wins, Telegram faces civil penalties up to A$54.6 million, or roughly $38 million US dollars, under Australia's online safety codes and standards.

Telegram Pushes Back

Telegram isn't rolling over. "We reject these allegations and will contest them in court," a company spokesperson told the New York Post.

The company argues its broader anti-terrorism record gets ignored in coverage like this. The spokesperson said Telegram's "anti-terrorism efforts are well-documented," pointing to thousands of extremist communities the platform says it blocked in 2026 alone.

A platform with over 1 billion monthly active users, according to the company's own figures, is going to have moderation gaps no matter how aggressive its policies are. Australia's regulator is asking whether the company dropped the ball on specific, flagged, known terrorist content for months.

The Durov Complication

This lawsuit lands in the middle of a much bigger mess for Telegram's founder. Pavel Durov, the Russian-born entrepreneur who moved the company to Dubai in 2017 after leaving Russia in 2014, was charged this week by Russian prosecutors with facilitating terrorist activity. Moscow alleges Ukrainian intelligence used the app to organize attacks inside Russia.

That charge comes from the Russian government, which has its own well-documented history of using terrorism accusations as a political weapon against people it considers hostile, including exiled critics and platforms it can't control. Telegram has become one of the most important information channels of the Russia-Ukraine war, used by officials in both Moscow and Kyiv. Russia's motives for going after Durov and Australia's motives for going after Telegram's moderation practices are not the same fight, and conflating them would be a mistake. But the timing, both actions landing in the same week, puts Telegram under simultaneous legal pressure from a Western democracy's safety regulator and an authoritarian government with a grudge.

What Happens Next

Australia's case now heads to court, where eSafety will need to prove Telegram had actual notice of the flagged content and failed to act within a reasonable window. Telegram has already signaled it will fight the allegations rather than settle.

The outcome will test how far Australia's online safety codes reach against a foreign-based platform with no shortage of resources or legal appetite for a fight. A $38 million penalty is real money, but for a company processing over a billion monthly users, it's also a rounding error unless Australian courts start setting precedent other countries follow.

No trial date has been set. Telegram has not said whether it will challenge Australia's jurisdiction over a platform headquartered in Dubai, which could become its own separate legal fight before the underlying moderation claims are even heard.