Apple briefly pulls Telegram from App Store over CSAM content

Pavel Durov has doubled down on Telegram’s position after Apple removed the platform from its App Store earlier this week following a review that revealed offensive material in the app. 

Telegram, used by more than a billion people, has called the takedown of its app an overreaction to the conduct of a single user. The app was reinstated days later. 

Did Telegram take its app off the App Store?

Apple shortly took the Telegram app off its app store, saying its review of Telegram turned up material that violated its strict guidelines against child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The app reappeared on the App Store after the content was removed and the poster was banned.

Anyone who already had Telegram installed was able to keep using it throughout the brief window. The takedown mainly blocked new downloads and updates. 

Telegram directly challenged Apple’s decision on X, asking if the company’s safety standards would be applied equally to all other apps in the store

Telegram spokesperson Remi Vaughn spoke against the decision, saying that Apple disrupted the communication of a billion people due to the actions of a single user.

The company’s founder, Pavel Durov, explained on his personal channel that the offensive material bypassed the app’s security measures because the AI-modified content was posted by editing an old message in an active group chat. 

Durov also explained that the attacker was a takedown extortionist; an individual who posts offensive material and demands ransom in exchange for not targeting communities. 

Do Apple and Telegram have existing issues? 

Apple previously pulled Telegram from the App Store in 2018 over inappropriate content, and once again restored it once the issue was resolved. 

French authorities arrested Durov back in 2024, and he was charged with enabling illegal transactions and complicity in the distribution of CSAM. 

Telegram responded by disabling some features it described as misused and changing how it handles private chats.

Durov remains under formal investigation in France. The Paris prosecutor’s office confirmed that Durov faces an array of potential charges for criminal activities linked to Telegram.

Cryptopolitan previously reported that Durov is wanted in Russia over allegedly aiding Ukraine’s “terrorist activities” in the country.

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