Australia Files Federal Court Action Against Telegram
Australia has escalated its campaign against extremist content online, with the eSafety Commissioner launching civil penalty proceedings against Telegram in the Federal Court on Thursday [1]. The regulator alleges the messaging platform — used by more than one billion people worldwide — repeatedly failed to meet its obligations under the country's Online Safety Act by allowing terrorism-linked material to remain accessible to users [1][4].
The timing is striking: the Australian action came just one day after Russia's Federal Security Service charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activity and announced it had begun procedures to place him on an international wanted list [1][4].
What Australia Says Telegram Failed to Do
The eSafety Commissioner's case rests on findings from a year-long investigation [1]. Regulators allege that Telegram was made aware of unlawful material through user complaints and still allowed some of it to remain visible for up to three weeks [1]. The regulator further claims Telegram did not take adequate steps to prevent repeat violations — including removing accounts, channels, and groups used to distribute pro-terror content [1].
Among the most serious allegations: Telegram failed to detect known extremist material before it was eventually removed, including footage from the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings, in which 51 people were killed, and the 2022 Buffalo mass shooting [1][4].
"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, according to Reuters [4].
The financial exposure is significant. Violations of Australia's Online Safety Act carry potential fines of up to 54.6 million Australian dollars — approximately $35.8 million to $38 million — depending on the source consulted [1][4].
Telegram Pushes Back
Unlike its response to the Russian charges — where the platform's official account posted an image of Durov making a profane hand gesture — Telegram offered a more measured reply to the Australian proceedings [1]. A spokesperson told Reuters: "We reject these allegations and will contest them in court," adding that the platform's anti-terrorism efforts are "well-documented, with thousands of extremist communities blocked by the platform in 2026 alone" [4].
Separately, Telegram's official X account posted a video captioned "freedom of expression" following news of the Australian case [1]. The company did not immediately respond to media requests for additional comment [1][4].
A Global Legal Siege
Australia's lawsuit is the latest front in what has become a multi-jurisdictional legal siege on Telegram and its founder. Durov was arrested at Le Bourget Airport in France in August 2024, and French prosecutors charged him with offenses including complicity in the distribution of illegal content — material linked to organized crime — through the platform [1]. He was released months later, but the investigation continues [4].
Durov currently resides in Dubai and holds dual citizenship of the United Arab Emirates and France [4]. Russia's FSB, meanwhile, has alleged that Telegram failed to remove channels, chats, and bots used by Ukrainian intelligence services, terrorist groups, and extremist organizations to coordinate attacks, recruit operatives, and carry out cyber fraud [1].
Durov has framed the accumulating legal pressure in ideological terms. "What was once the promise of the free exchange of information is being turned into the ultimate tool of control," he wrote in an October 2025 post on X [1].
BitRiver Founder Also Faces Russian Detention
In a separate but thematically related development from Russia's crypto sector, a court transferred Igor Runets — founder of BitRiver, Russia's largest crypto mining company — from house arrest to a pretrial detention facility on Thursday [3]. Runets faces charges of large-scale fraud, with investigators alleging he caused damages exceeding one billion rubles (approximately $12.5 million) by failing to deliver equipment under an $8 million contract signed in 2023 with Infrastructure of Siberia, a subsidiary of the En+ industrial conglomerate [3].
Runets, a Stanford University MBA graduate, began building crypto mining data centers in Siberia in 2017 and eventually expanded to 15 facilities with more than 175,000 servers [3]. He had previously been detained and placed on house arrest in February on three charges of tax evasion [3].
BitRiver's troubles have compounded since a six-year government ban on crypto mining across 10 Russian regions forced the closure of several of its centers. A regional arbitration court opened insolvency proceedings against Group of Companies Fox — which owns 98% of BitRiver's authorized capital — in February [3].
What to Watch Next
Several threads are worth tracking closely. In Australia, the Federal Court proceedings will test the reach of the Online Safety Act against a major global platform that has historically resisted content moderation demands — the outcome could set a precedent for how other jurisdictions pursue similar claims. In France, Durov's ongoing investigation has yet to reach a formal charging decision, and any escalation there would add further legal weight to the global case against the platform. In Russia, the FSB's move to place Durov on an international wanted list raises questions about whether Interpol — which has previously declined to act on politically sensitive Russian requests — would cooperate. And for BitRiver, the progression of insolvency proceedings against its controlling shareholder will determine whether Russia's once-dominant crypto mining industry can survive the regulatory environment that helped dismantle it.