Apple briefly pulled Telegram from the App Store over CSAM content, then restored it after removal and a user ban. Read what happened.
Telegram, one of the world’s most popular messenger platforms, disappeared from the App Store briefly. The delisting caused social media platforms to go abuzz with panic. This came just a month after the Indian government banned access to Telegram for a whole week, and Russia charged its founder, Pavel Durov, with facilitating terrorist activity.
In this case, however, Telegram’s page was restored on the App Store soon after. It was Telegram’s account on X that posted a witty one-liner to address the brief disappearance, stating, “reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated”.
Apple agreed to remove the app from its store, stating, “We briefly removed Telegram from the App Store after our review found content that violates our strict guidelines prohibiting child sexual abuse material. The app was subsequently restored after the developer promptly removed the content and banned the user who posted it,” stated Apple, which was shared by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
Telegram, however, responded to Apple’s statement publicly with a snarky undertone, stating, “I’m sure this stance will be applied equally to all other apps in the store, in the future, right? Apple.”
Users searching for Telegram on the iOS App Store were met with “Page Not Found” errors. The outage affected new downloads and updates for Telegram users on iPhones worldwide, though existing users retained full access to their messages at the time of the outage.
Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney, who has been fighting Apple’s control over the App Store, has shared his take on the matter.
“Apple has stated they removed the app from availability to a billion users because a Telegram user posted something horrible and illegal. They did not elaborate on how, if that is the standard for app removal, any communications app could operate at scale, including iMessage.”
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How Telegram users reacted on social media
With news of delisting gone live, Telegram users spared no moments to head over to X (formerly Twitter) and share their discontent in the form of memes and other viral posts. While many resorted to comedy for stating the missing app listing, others questioned Apple’s instant action on removing the app from its store listings.“What a weird reaction to being taken down for CSAM. Not a good look. Telegram will be associated to it permanently,” wrote one user on X.
“Nothing says “we’re fine” like quoting Twain while throwing shade at a trillion-dollar company,” wrote @WilsonBlackett, another user, referring to the witty responses from the Telegram account.
Other users took a dig at Apple for being eager to flag platforms over content moderation issues. “I love how quickly Apple takes action on sensitive topics,” wrote @RehanTemkar.
Another user, @lorenzo_madeit, posted, “The Telegram cleanup echoes the 2018 purge where Apple and Google simultaneously nuked Tumblr after their automated scanners flagged child safety policy violations, effectively forcing the platform to ban all adult content to survive.”
“Maybe @Apple should crack down on Roblox next,” wrote @Poisontooth7, referring to similar content moderation issues on the multiplayer game.
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Not the first time Telegram vanished from App Store
This isn’t Telegram’s first vanishing act on the App Store. Apple temporarily removed the platform in 2018 after discovering prohibited content shared in public groups. Back then, Telegram founder Pavel Durov worked with Apple to improve moderation controls, allowing the app to return within 24 hours.Since platforms with massive public channels face an endless moderation balancing act, sudden delistings and re-submissions remain a primary mechanism for Apple to enforce its developer guidelines on these platforms.
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