Apple briefly removed the Telegram messaging app from its App Store after finding content that violated its rules on child sexual abuse material briefly removed.
The takedown blocked new downloads while existing installs continued to work, with Apple restoring the app after Telegram took action on the offending material preventing new users and saying the platform promptly removed the content and banned the user.
Telegram said one user was responsible and pointed to its own moderation tallies, saying it had removed more than 337,900 groups and channels related to CSAM in 2026.
“Apple's App Store desperately needs competition worldwide,” Tim Sweeney wrote, characterizing the takedown as arbitrary.
The episode adds to months of scrutiny of Telegram’s content-moderation, following an Australian regulator action and recent criminal charges brought by Russian authorities against founder Pavel Durov, and it echoes a prior App Store removal over inappropriate content in 2018.
Telegram said it intends to contest them in court regarding Australia’s allegations, leaving the legal fight over moderation to play out as the restored app returns to availability.
