Australia’s online censorship chief has launched legal action against popular encrypted app Telegram for allegedly failing to detect and delete content, and threatened to ban it.
eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, an unelected American-born bureaucrat who earns a taxpayer-funded salary of $536,000 per year, announced on Thursday she was suing the messaging platform in the Federal Court due to concerns about “online radicalisation”.
Ms Inman Grant alleged Telegram had failed to detect and remove terrorist and “violent extremist” content that had been reported by users in Australia, including videos of the 2019 Christchurch massacre and of a US mass shooting.
She also said that if the court ruled against Telegram and the platform refused to pay a civil penalty, which could be up to $55 million per breach, she would consider asking for the app to be banned in Australia.
“With the painful aftermath of the Bondi terror attack still fresh in the minds of all Australians, and ASIO’s assessment that Australia’s terrorism threat level remains ‘probable’, it is more important than ever that digital platforms meet their obligations to protect the community,” she said.
“ASIO Director General Mike Burgess has recently stated that online radicalisation is playing an increasing role in ASIO investigations, and ‘instead of being radicalised by associates in the real world, individuals are often being radicalised by strangers online’ and specifically warned about the risks on Telegram.
“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.”
Telegram responded by vowing the fight the accusations in the Federal Court, and spokesman Remi Vaughn said the platform had made “well-documented” efforts to “fight against terrorism”.
The lawsuit was announced just hours after Russia charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activity, alleging he let Ukrainian spies use the platform to organise terrorist attacks, and added him to a terrorist watchlist.
Durov, 41, denies wrongdoing, and responded by posting a photo of himself giving the middle finger on X.
Header image: Left, Julie Inman Grant (eSafety Office). Right, Pavel Durov (Instagram).
