Telegram spent part of Monday missing from Apple‘s App Store after a routine review turned up material that broke Apple’s rules against child sexual abuse content. The listing came back within hours, once Telegram had taken the material down and banned whoever posted it.
Searches for the app came up empty in several countries, including the US, India, Australia and Singapore, though anyone who already had it installed kept full access throughout. Telegram posted a lighthearted response on X before either company had explained what happened, writing that “reports of my demise are greatly exaggerated.”
Apple later confirmed the reason directly to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman, saying its review had found content that “violates our strict guidelines prohibiting child sexual abuse material.”
This isn’t the first time the two companies have been through this exact sequence. Apple pulled Telegram and its companion Telegram X app from the App Store in February 2018 over similar material, restoring both once Telegram added new safeguards and Apple referred the case to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
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The scare rippled into crypto markets too. GRAM, the token tied to Telegram’s own TON blockchain, fell as much as 8% while the app’s status was still unclear, before steadying once Telegram confirmed the app was back. The token underpins Telegram’s in-app economy, from Stars and Premium subscriptions to the Fragment marketplace, which is part of why traders reacted before either company had said a word publicly.
Neither company has said publicly which account or content triggered Monday’s removal. Telegram has faced years of scrutiny over how it moderates content across its channels and group chats, and its founder, Pavel Durov, is currently fighting a terrorism-related charge in Russia and a separate criminal case in France tied to content moderation on the platform.
Read: Russia Charges Telegram’s Pavel Durov With Aiding Terrorism, Issues Wanted Notice
