UK investigates Telegram over child sexual abuse material moderation failures

Telegram is under investigation in the UK after Ofcom opened a case over alleged child sexual abuse material on the messaging app, according to a statement released on Tuesday.

The British regulator says that it is examining whether Telegram met its legal duty to stop that material from being shared, but for now, the case is under the Online Safety Act, which gives Ofcom power to check whether platforms that let users message each other are properly assessing risk and taking steps to reduce harm.

The pressure is landing within mere days of the platform saying it has more than 1 billion users worldwide.

Meanwhile, Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov is famously already facing legal trouble elsewhere. As publicly reported,  Durov was detained for questioning in France in 2024 over claims that the platform did not do enough to moderate criminal activity. Pavel denied those allegations, but that investigation is still going on.

Ofcom opens multiple cases while investigating Telegram

Ofcom said it started its Telegram assessment after getting evidence from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection about the alleged presence and sharing of abuse material on the platform.

Under the Online Safety Act, services that fall into the “user-to-user” category must assess the risk of this material appearing on their platforms and must also take steps to reduce that risk.

The British watchdog said its Telegram probe will test whether the company complied with those duties.

The regulator also opened separate investigations into Teen Chat and Chat Avenue, who offer open chat rooms, private messaging, user profiles, and media-sharing tools.

These investigations will focus on whether the two teen chat sites gave British children enough protection from grooming by predators, according to Ofcom.

In its statement, Ofcom said, “The sexual exploitation and abuse of children online has some serious consequences for those affected.” It added that grooming crimes can include coercing a child to send sexual images, sexual extortion, and arranging in-person sexual abuse.

The regulator also said that, as part of its wider work under the law, six file-sharing providers pulled their services out of the UK after concerns were raised about the safety steps they were taking to stop offenders from spreading abuse material.

Telegram denies UK accusations as Russia charges fines for free speech violations

Telegram said, “Telegram categorically denies Ofcom’s accusations. Since 2018, Telegram has virtually eliminated the public spread of [child sexual abuse material] on its platform through world-class detection algorithms and co-operation with NGOs.”

The company also said it was surprised by the British probe and was concerned that it could be part of a wider attack on platforms that defend free speech and privacy rights.

Pavel wrote on his Telegram channel that:

“This is how the EU/UK now regulates social media: Offer CEOs secret deals to censor dissent. If they refuse, open criminal cases against them. When people push back, say it’s ‘all for the children’. ‘Protecting children’ has become the standard legal/PR cover.”

The British case came on the same day Russia tightened pressure too. TASS reported that a Moscow court fined Telegram 7 million rubles, about $93,000, for failing to remove content containing calls for extremist activity.

The report said Telegram’s total unpaid fines have now reached nearly 50 million rubles, or about $666,000, for violating Russian law.

Russia’s communications regulator, Roskomnadzor, said in February that it would slow down Telegram under federal law because the platform had failed to comply with about 150,000 requests to remove banned content, including child abuse material and drug-related posts.

Telegram is still widely used in Russia, including for military communication, but it is facing growing pressure over data localization rules and counterterrorism laws. On Feb. 10, Roskomnadzor said Telegram was still violating Russian law and warned that efforts to restrict its operations would continue.

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