Apple briefly eliminated Telegram from the App Retailer on Monday evening after a evaluate discovered content material that violated its pointers towards little one sexual abuse materials (CSAM), however restored the app a short time later, in keeping with Reuters.
Stories of the removing started circulating round 9:30 p.m. ET on Monday, with searches for Telegram on the App Retailer returning nothing and the app’s direct itemizing displaying a “web page cannot be discovered” error. Present customers weren’t affected and will maintain utilizing the app all through, and Telegram remained out there on the Mac App Retailer. The app returned to the App Retailer roughly 40 minutes later, round 10:10 p.m. ET. Apple confirmed the explanation for the takedown in an announcement:
We briefly eliminated Telegram from the App Retailer after our evaluate discovered content material that violates our strict pointers prohibiting little one sexual abuse materials. The app was subsequently restored after the developer promptly eliminated the content material and banned the person who posted it.
Telegram stated the motion stemmed from a single account. “Apple reported one person sharing CSAM, who was instantly banned,” the corporate stated, including that it has eliminated greater than 337,900 teams and channels associated to CSAM in 2026, on high of 29,640 removals in 2025 following stories from teams together with the Nationwide Heart for Lacking & Exploited Kids.
stories of my demise are enormously exaggerated 🍎
— Telegram Messenger (@telegram) August 4, 2026
Epic Video games CEO Tim Sweeney, a longtime critic of App Retailer coverage amid his personal antitrust battle with Apple, argued on X that the takedown confirmed the necessity for extra competitors in app distribution. “Apple’s App Retailer desperately wants competitors worldwide,” Sweeney wrote. “Apple capriciously removes a significant communication and privateness software from availability to a billion customers, and sadly that is enterprise as ordinary.” He went on to query the consistency of the usual Apple utilized, noting the corporate “didn’t elaborate on how, if that’s the usual for app removing, any communications app may function at scale, together with iMessage.”
Monday’s motion echoes a February 2018 removing, when Apple pulled each Telegram and its Telegram X consumer over what founder Pavel Durov described on the time as “inappropriate content material,” restoring the apps solely after Telegram added additional safeguards.