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Australia's eSafety Commissioner has started civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court against Telegram, alleging the messaging platform failed to detect and remove pro-terror material including videos of terrorist executions and mass shootings.
The regulator alleges Telegram breached systemic safety obligations under the Online Safety Act's Relevant Electronic Services Standard.
Telegram is alleged to have failed to detect known pro-terror content including the livestreamed Christchurch mosque shooting from 2019 and the Buffalo mass shooting from 2022
The platform has more than a billion users worldwide and is visited by Australians about 1.5 million times a month.
Civil penalties of up to $54.6 million apply for failure to comply with Australia's codes and standards.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said the case concerned content linked to some of the most notorious acts of known extremist violence in recent history.
"We allege that this content remained accessible on the service long after Telegram had been put on notice," she said..
“ASIO Director General Mike Burgess has recently stated that online radicalisation is playing an increasing role in ASIO investigations.
“Instead of being radicalised by associates in the real world, individuals are often being radicalised by strangers online.
“This should concern all of us. We’re talking about the most seriously harmful online material and Australian law requires services across the online ecosystem to take responsibility for the role they play in allowing this material to be disseminated, including by enforcing their own terms of service.”
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