Australia's internet regulator said on Thursday it had begun legal action against messaging platform Telegram over alleged failings to tackle pro-terror posts.
The office of the eSafety Commissioner said it had begun legal action after Telegram failed to remove videos of terrorist executions and mass shootings.
"This case concerns content linked to some of the most notorious acts of known extremist violence in recent history, including material associated with the Christchurch and Buffalo terror attacks," eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said in a statement.
"We allege that this content remained accessible on the service long after Telegram had been put on notice," she said.
Failure to comply with Australia's codes and standards could result in civil penalties of up to A$54.6 million ($38 million), the statement said.
"We reject these allegations and will contest them in court," a spokesperson for Telegram said in response to a request for comment.
The company added that its anti-terrorism efforts were well documented, with thousands of extremist communities blocked by the platform in 2026 alone.
In a court filing, eSafety said Australian Telegram users reported 12 posts containing pro-terror content between July and October 2025, including three that contained known terrorist material.
The regulator alleged that Telegram failed to remove 10 of the posts or suspend or block the accounts that shared them.
Telegram is one of the world's most downloaded apps, with more than 1 billion monthly active users, according to the company.
The platform's founder, Russian-born Pavel Durov, left Russia in 2014 and moved himself and the company to Dubai in 2017.
Telegram has become a key source of information on Russia's war in Ukraine and is widely used by officials in Moscow and Kyiv.
Russia on Wednesday charged Durov with facilitating terrorist activity, alleging that the app was used by Ukrainian spies to organise attacks inside Russia.
Durov denies any wrongdoing.
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