Apple briefly removed Telegram from its App Store on Monday after finding child sexual abuse material in the app, then restored it hours later as Gram slid 8%.
Key Points:
- Apple pulled Telegram's iOS listing late Monday, blocking new downloads while installed copies kept running normally.
- The company attributed the takedown to content that violated its rules against child sexual abuse material.
- Telegram removed the content and banned the account behind it, and the listing returned within hours.
Apple Explains Telegram App Store Removal
The company said its App Review team found material that violates strict guidelines barring child sexual abuse content, though it did not describe where in the app the material appeared. Telegram deleted the content and banned the account that posted it, and the listing returned to App Store search results soon after. That word came roughly 20 minutes after downloads worked again on iPhones and iPads.
Users first noticed the app missing from iOS and iPadOS search results around 9:30 p.m. Eastern, and direct links to the listing returned a page saying the app could not be found. Word of the outage spread for hours while neither company explained the gap or confirmed its scope.
Installed copies kept working throughout, so existing users could send messages, post to channels and run groups without any interruption at all.
The Mac App Store listing stayed up, and the Android version of the app remained available to download through Google Play. Only new downloads and reinstalls on Apple devices hit the block.
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Gram Token Slides During Telegram Blackout
Gram shed roughly 8% while the App Store page sat dark, the clearest market reaction to a blackout that ran for only a few hours. Telegram broke its silence with a post on X saying reports of its demise were greatly exaggerated, and it said nothing about the content finding.
The company later confirmed the restoration and said the app should soon reach all users again, offering no account of what had gone wrong. Some users still could not find the listing well after that statement, pointing to a staggered rollout. App Store rules require apps that carry user posts to filter objectionable material, publish support contacts and let people report and block abusive accounts.
Telegram Repeats Its 2018 App Store Fight
Apple pulled Telegram and its experimental Telegram X app in February 2018 over what founder Pavel Durov described at the time only as inappropriate content.
An email from executive Phil Schiller later showed the trigger was child abuse imagery, and both apps came back once Telegram added new moderation safeguards.
Other removals have followed the messaging service since, including a temporary ban in Brazil in 2023 and a Chinese App Store takedown in April 2024 that also swept up WhatsApp, Signal and Threads at the order of the country's internet regulator.
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