Welcome Messages, Article Buttons, New Table Options

The August Telegram update coincides with the messenger's 13th birthday: the mobile apps have updated to version 12.10, while Telegram Desktop has received a version 7.1 update. This update introduces the following features:

• Welcome Messages: Admins can set and edit up to 3 welcome messages in their groups and channels. The message appears for the user when they join the chat or channel, but it is ephemeral and invisible to other members.

To set a welcome message, open group or channel Settings > Welcome Message. Only the owner and admins with “Manage Welcome Messages” permission can change this setting. Even if you are an admin who had full permissions in a chat or channel, this permission is not granted by default.

• Buttons in Articles: Users can now turn part of the text in paragraphs into buttons that are styled to look like links. The feature is available in the built-in full-screen article editor on Android and Desktop, but not iOS.

The buttons can currently perform three types of actions: Link, Copy, or User Profile. The created button can be configured — for example, the style of the button can be set to dangerous (red), success (green), or primary (theme accent color). On Android you can set the style by tapping the link-button a few times, until you get the needed color.

Keep in mind: Together with inline buttons, Telegram introduced full-sized buttons in articles. There are differences in how they are created across platforms:
• Android: Type the / symbol and select “Button” in the dropdown menu.
• iOS: Tap “+” and select “Button Row”.
• Desktop: Tap and choose “Button”.

• New Table Formatting Options: The Rich Text tables received a few extra options: you can now remove cell borders or use Compact style to reduce inner padding in the table so it takes up less space.

Download the update
• Android: Google Play, APK from the official website or verified channel.
• iOS: App Store.
• Windows/macOS/Linux: official website or GitHub.
• Windows: Microsoft Store.
• Linux: Flathub or Snapcraft.

#update #Android #iOS #Desktop

Telegram Desktop updated to version 7.1.1

What's new:
• Added welcome messages for groups and channels.
• Added buttons and files in articles.
• Improved lists, tables, and Markdown text pasting in the article editor.
• Added self-destruct timers and view-once feature for photos and videos.
• Added video profile picture upload for users, chats, and channels.
• Added a video editor with the ability to trim and crop the clip, change its quality, and set a cover.
• Added the ability to restore open windows and chats upon restart.
• Added new keyboard shortcuts to restore closed windows (Ctrl + Shift + T), as well as to open the article editor (can be assigned in Settings › Chat Settings › Keyboard shortcuts).
• Added the ability to send music files via the attachment menu.
• Added a new proxy type called WEB in the Connection settings.
• Fixed bugs that caused crashes.

Download:
• Windows/macOS/Linux: official website or GitHub 
• Windows: Microsoft Store 
• macOS: App Store 
• Linux: Flathub, Snapcraft

#update #Desktop

Telegram Is Working on Experimental WEB-Proxy

A new experimental proxy type titled “WEB” was found in Telegram Desktop's code. The discovery was publicized by teleLakel.

The server code for the WEB-proxy is still under development, and Telegram hasn't endorsed any implementations yet, so there is no good way to try the technology at the moment.

Why is this necessary, and why not just use MTProxy?

The already existing MTProxy can also mask to appear as HTTPS traffic using the FakeTLS extension. However, modern Deep Packet Inspection systems (DPI) can already tell such connections apart, since FakeTLS still has some differences from real HTTPS traffic that can be seen from the outside.

The new WEB transport makes detection much harder: to talk to the server, the messenger uses the built-in browser (WebView). It establishes a real TLS/HTTPS connection using standard browser cryptography, which makes Telegram traffic less different from regular web surfing.

How does it work

• The messenger opens a special page on the proxy server domain using a hidden browser
• This domain can also continue to work as a regular website. The hidden Telegram channel only activates if the request contains the correct secret key.
• Inside the unitary web channel, the encrypted MTProxy traffic is enveloped into WEB-proxy frames and sent to the proxy server. Currently, this is done using WebSocket.
• HTTP/WebSocket traffic is repackaged and relayed to the MTProxy server without being decrypted.

Currently, the feature is under active development, so by the time it gets released, the protocol may change.

The independent Telemt community is working on detection-resistant protocols. Earlier, thanks to the community's research into Russian DPIs, Telegram developers updated the MTProxy in their clients to adapt them to new detection methods.

The community notes that the messenger should spend more time developing new censorship-resistance methods. If the messenger doesn't keep improving the new WEB proxy, it might stop working in the future — typical Telegram traffic may have uniquely identifying properties even inside a real TLS connection if additional masking methods are not used on it.

#Desktop #proxy #bans

The Australian Internet Safety Regulator Sues Telegram

The regulator claims the service is ignoring the country's laws, citing the messenger's lack of action in deleting terrorist propaganda materials. The government doesn't intend to ban Telegram yet, although it has the power to do so.

The Australian government's demands stem from user reports claiming that videos are being spread on Telegram featuring the Christchurch mosque shootings in New Zealand in 2019 and shootings in a US supermarket in 2022.

"We have alleged that Telegram has failed to detect, deter and disrupt pro-terror material", eSafety commissioner Julie Inman Grant said.

The court case is the result of a year-long investigation. eSafety claims that it attempted to engage with Telegram, but the messenger did not act or answer government requests for five months. Australian law does not require a license to operate in the country, but the regulator may ask the court to ban it.

"We've never used those powers, and we'll see how this all plays out and whether that kind of action is warranted", Ms Inman Grant said.

Telegram's representatives state that “extensive anti-terrorism efforts are well documented”, and its published records claim thousands of “terrorist communities” were removed. The spokesperson added that the company will contest the allegations in court.

More Context

• In November 2025 Telegram initiated a legal battle with eSafety over the “Online Safety Act 2021”, deeming it illegal.

• In February 2025, the Australian regulator fined Telegram over $600,000 for delaying the provision of information on its measures to combat terrorism and materials related to child exploitation.

• The company asserts that once it became aware of the request, it voluntarily provided the required information. The @tginfo team previously analyzed the details of that response, which reveals a lot of details about how Telegram's moderation works.

#Australia #courts

The .me registry commented on the suspension of the t.me domain

A representative of the .me domain zone administration commented on Twitter about the situation regarding the ban of the t.me domain, which belongs to Telegram:

The .ME Registry works closely with law enforcement to monitor and mitigate issues across the .ME domain in accordance with applicable laws, including sanctions requirements.

On 13 July, First VPN Service (1VPNS) was included as a sanctioned entity by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. A Telegram channel using the t.me domain was among 1VPNS identified infrastructure. Accordingly, the t.me domain was suspended.

On 14 July, Telegram provided confirmation that it had removed its links and affiliations with 1VPNS. Once the confirmation was reviewed and verified, the suspension was removed from the t.me domain.

We appreciate Telegram’s prompt cooperation in resolving this matter.

It is unclear from the comment whether the .me administration evaluated the appropriateness of blocking the entire domain of a major social platform and whether the registry will resort to such methods in the future.

As a reminder, on July 13, the .me registry disabled the DNS records for the t.me domain without any public statements from the zone administration or Telegram. On July 14, Identity Digital support explained the ban as compliance with OFAC requirements, and a link to a Telegram channel was found in the service's sanctions lists, which the messenger soon deleted, after which the domain was restored.

The .me zone is allocated to the government of Montenegro, but on its behalf, the infrastructure is managed by a joint venture between Identity Digital, GoDaddy, and the local company ME-net.

#outages #bans

Fullscreen Rich Text Editor, Communities, New GIF Search, and Ephemeral Messages

Telegram for Android and iOS updated to version 12.9, while Telegram Desktop updated to version 7.0. In its July update, Telegram brings a much more extensive variety of text formatting options, communities, and much more:

• Advanced Text Editor: Users can now send Rich Formatting messages from the new full-screen text editor. It includes many styling options: headings, tables, lists, quotes, LaTeX math formulas, code blocks, and expandable spoilers. It also allows users to mix photos and videos right in the middle of messages by creating collages or carousel slideshows.

The editor is available under Attach › Article. Alternatively, in mobile apps you can tap the icon above the “Send” button. The full-screen editor allows users to send messages that are up to 32,768 characters long.

Most of the key features of the full-screen editor are only available to Premium users, although the full-screen UI itself can be used for free.

• Communities: Organize communities that bring theme-related chats, channels, or even bots closer together. You can't add big entities, though: Telegram limits chats and channels by their member count. The @tginfo editors are still researching the limitations of this feature.

Make sure not to confuse communities with forums: each chat and channel remains independent, while users can view the list and join each separately.

Community chats can be visible to all members or be hidden, in which case only community admins and the members of the hidden chat can see it. Community chats and channels can merge into a single item in the chat list — this is controlled by each community member for themselves.

• Ephemeral messages for bots: Bots and users can now message and reply to each other privately even in the middle of a group chat — such messages are visible only to the specific recipient and the bot that sent them. Ephemeral commands and replies to them are marked with a special crossed-out eye icon.

When a command is ephemeral, the user's initial message remains fully invisible to all members and bots, which allows confidential interactions to take place even in public spaces. Besides, such messages will be invisible if you log into your account from a new device.

• Updated GIF Search: The GIF panel now searches across 350 million GIF animations in 36 languages. The search engine works thanks to Telegram's indexing of widely shared, publicly available GIFs using the in-house Cocoon AI project. Alas, Telegram doesn't clarify what “publicly available” entails.

The change was caused by Google shutting down access to its Tenor GIF library. Telegram claims the new GIF search is private and doesn't depend on third-party services, and adds that it works much faster than before.

Article: telegram.org/blog/communities-editor-invisible-messages/

Download the update
• Android: Google Play, APK from the official website or verified channel.
• iOS: App Store.
• Windows/macOS/Linux: official website or GitHub.
• Windows: Microsoft Store.
• Linux: Flathub or Snapcraft.

#update #Android #iOS #Desktop

Exclusive Access to New Bot API Hosting

Using the official @ContestBot, the messenger team is sending service notifications to some winners of past Telegram contests.

People who distinguished themselves in the contests are invited to join a private test of a new Bot API paradigm — Telegram Serverless. It will allow developers to launch and maintain Telegram bots and Mini Apps on Telegram servers, without deploying their own infrastructure.

“As a winner of a previous Telegram competition, you are invited to exclusively test Telegram's new Bot API. It allows you to run your bots — including their code and databases — directly on Telegram's infrastructure, without using your own servers”, says the service message.

Unusually, the invites are sent not only to developers who participated in software development contests, but also to winners in creative competitions.

You can learn more about Telegram Serverless and explore the docs on the official website. Keep in mind that the new API is currently not available to the general public.

#BotAPI

The t.me Domain Has Been Restored by the .me Registry

Checks by the @tginfo editors show that the .me zone's main server has returned the DNS records for the t.me domain.

Since DNS records are cached at the level of various DNS services and providers, it may take up to 24 hours for service to be restored on users' devices.

#outages #bans

Telegram Is Still Working on Restoring the t.me Domain

UPD July 14, 13:00 UTC: The domain was restored.

The t.me domain is still down for users worldwide, as it was disabled by the administration of the .me domain zone. The messenger's team has not commented on the matter.

As a temporary measure, users are advised to replace t.me links with telegram.me or telegram.dog — the messenger's official domains.

The @tginfo editors note that Instagram* blocks links to telegram.me in profiles, but links to telegram.dog work. Some users report that Instagram* bans users from using the “link in bio” feature if the domain is changed, so the best course of action is to wait for the t.me domain to be restored.

Shortly after the news about the domain being disabled, Telegram began replacing t.me links in Telegram apps and on the official telegram.org website. Pavel Durov attempted to contact the .me registry administration via their official Twitter account.

Possible reason for the block

The .me zone belongs to Montenegro, and the infrastructure is managed by a joint venture of Identity Digital, GoDaddy, and the local company ME-net.

The owner of the TeleLakel channel received a response from Identity Digital's support team, which claims that the domain was disabled due to the “need to comply with OFAC-related requirements”.

OFAC is a division of the US Department of the Treasury that administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions.

OFAC has not added Telegram to its sanctions lists. However, an action statement dated July 13, 2026, regarding newly sanctioned companies mentions a service called "FIRST VPN SERVICE". Users noticed that one of the links to its website is a Telegram channel address on the t.me domain.

This could mean that the .me domain operator saw the t.me domain in the sanctions lists and quickly blocked it without further research.

The @tginfo team noticed that this morning the messenger deleted the Telegram channel that was mentioned in this sanctions list. It is unknown whether this channel was actually the reason for the block, or if Telegram did this on their own as a precaution.

A popular rumor about the reason for the block

A version is spreading in the community that the t.me domain was revoked because the official Telegram Twitter account joked about the September 11th terrorist attack.

The @tginfo editors consider this version unlikely: if it were true, the .me domain zone administration would likely have blocked all Telegram domains, including telegram.me. Furthermore, the published image was not a joke invented by the company itself, but one of the most popular entries submitted by users as part of a contest.

#outages #bans

The .me registry has blocked the t.me domain

UPD July 14, 13:00 UTC: The domain was restored.

Telegram users worldwide have encountered an outage: short t.me links have stopped opening in regular browsers. The problem affects users in the entire world.

At the same time, within the mobile and desktop Telegram clients themselves, clicks on links are processed correctly, and redirects work without any problems. As a temporary alternative for posting on external resources, you can use telegram.me links.

Technical details

At the moment, the exact causes of the incident remain unknown.

According to WHOIS data, the t.me domain has been completely removed from the DNS zone by the administration of the .me domain registry.

This status is set not by the registrar (GoDaddy), but directly by the main operator of the domain zone — the Montenegrin company doMEn d.o.o., which manages the entire .me zone. This organization is a joint venture of Identity Digital, GoDaddy, and ME-net.

#outages #bans

Advanced Text Editor Is Already in Beta

Users with a Telegram Premium subscription and a Beta version of the Telegram app can now send Rich Formatting messages from the new full-screen text editor.

It includes many styling options: headings, tables, LaTeX math formulas, code blocks, block quotes, expandable spoilers, collages, carousel slideshows, and more. We provide more details about the new editor UI in our initial post.

In the past few weeks, the feature only worked on the test server, but is now available to everyone with a Premium subscription. To try the feature at this stage, you must use the Beta versions of the Telegram apps: version 12.9 if you're on mobile (Telegram for Android and Telegram for iOS), or version 6.9.4 of Telegram Desktop.

Beta versions of the Telegram apps:
• Android: official channel
• Telegram Desktop (Windows/macOS/Linux): official website
• iOS: not available for new testers at the moment.

The editor is available under Attach › Article. Alternatively, in mobile apps you can tap the icon above the “Send” button.

Subscribe to @betainfo — our second channel. There, our team shares all the new features discovered in the Telegram beta versions.

#Android #iOS #Desktop #Beta

Communities Are Now Being Tested in Telegram

In Telegram beta for Android, version 12.9, users can now organize communities that bring theme-related chats closer together.

The details:

• Chats Only: At the moment, only chats can be added to communities.

• How to Join: Telegram treats you as a member of a community if you join any chat linked to that community.

• What This Offers: If a chat is linked to a community, this is highlighted on the chat's profile page. From there, members can navigate to other chats in the community. Members can view the list of all “visible” chats in the community and join them.

• Chats Stay Independent: Telegram won’t add you to other chats in the community automatically. Different owners can offer to add their chats to a community.

• Can Merge Visually: Community chats can display separately or merge into a single item. This behavior is controlled by community admins using the “Show as One Chat” toggle. When it’s active, the community looks similar to forums, but each topic is instead an independent chat you can join.

• Hidden Chats: A chat can be added to a community with “hidden” visibility. A hidden chat can be seen only by those invited to it separately. This is similar to general and hidden channels in Discord servers. Members of the hidden chat can navigate into the community, while other community members can’t see the hidden chat.

• If We Should Expect Channels: The app code mentions adding channels, but the feature is unavailable, so it’s not clear whether it will be added in the future.

Creating communities is available only on the test server at the moment. You can add your group chat to a community in chat settings—just tap the “Add Group to a Community” option.

Subscribe to @betainfo — our second channel. There, our team shares all the new features discovered in the Telegram beta versions.

#Android #Beta

Extended Text Editor in Telegram

In the beta version of Telegram for iOS, build 12.9.0 (33214), the “AI editor” button was replaced with the Markdown editor launcher.

When tapped, the button expands the message input field to the full screen height, turning it into a full-fledged article editor.

For context, support for extended rich text messages appeared in the Telegram 12.8 update. It includes many text styling options: headings, tables, LaTeX math formulas, code blocks, block quotes, expandable spoilers, collages, carousel slideshows, and more.

Subscribe to @betainfo — our second channel. There, our team shares all the new features discovered in the Telegram beta versions.

#iOS #Beta

Telegram Is Banned in India, Deleted from App Stores, Suffered a Global Outage

The Indian government ordered a temporary ban on Telegram due to mass leaks of NEET-UG exam questions. However, a local telecom‘s attempt to restrict access led to interceptions far beyond the country. Editors at @tginfo explain how local censorship turned into a global outage.

What Happened in India

The formal reason for the ban was leaked questions for the national medical exam in Telegram channels. Currently, the official Telegram client has been removed from the Indian App Store and Google Play storefronts.

Pavel Durov points out that this move punishes 150 million users in India, while the leaks simply migrated to a different app, and that Telegram cooperated with regulators by deleting “hundreds of channels sharing leaked exam materials and related scams in India”. The CEO also adds that the messenger team has “been making the ‘edited’ label more visible to prevent backdating scams”, although it is not clear whether this change hasn't shipped yet or is some local change that our editors couldn‘t confirm independently. The “edited” indicator changes are said to be done to fight backdating scams.

For context, India is one of the biggest Telegram markets. The Indian government tried to pressure Telegram before: in 2022, a court demanded the disclosure of pirate channel owners‘ personal data. At that time, Telegram only complied on paper, stating that it didn‘t store the requested data on its servers. It is clear that this time the government is trying to act with more force.

From a Local Ban to a Global Outage

Trying to restrict Telegram inside the country, an Indian telecom company used a BGP routing hijacking trick.

• The Internet is made up of many interconnected networks that tell each other the data paths using the BGP protocol.
• An Indian telecom company announced to the whole world that it owns Telegram's IP addresses, forcing part of the global traffic to be sent through the false route, which blocks access to the messenger.
• Since many service providers around the world still don‘t verify the authenticity of the routes they receive, the false routes spread around the globe.

As a result, connectivity issues could be observed even outside India, including regions like the UAE. Similar incidents happened before: for example, in 2023, the Iraqi government used a similar trick to ban Telegram.

Industry experts point out that the Indian telecom even got into a brief network war with Telegram, in which one company tried to overwrite the opponent‘s routing directions. Pavel Durov announced that Reliance stopped malicious routing four hours after his post.

Erroneous Accusations Against Meta Trying to Blame for All Their Problems

Pavel Durov called the service provider‘s actions intentional sabotage and assumed that it might be part of the competitive war that WhatsApp is leading against Telegram, based on a claim that Reliance is partially owned by Meta (parent company of WhatsApp and Facebook*).

Despite this, community and media research shows that Pavel Durov confused two companies. The network system that was hijacking the traffic is owned by Reliance Communications, an old telecom asset midway through bankruptcy, while Meta invested in a completely unrelated company — Jio Platforms (which also owns Reliance Jio, a large Indian service provider).

The theory about WhatsApp‘s corporate conspiracy couldn‘t be backed by any technical data. It is likely that the global traffic hijacking was caused by incompetence among the engineers at the Indian company responsible for configuring the hardware to block Telegram. It is not the first time that Pavel Durov has publicly accused WhatsApp of attacking Telegram, explaining unfavorable events with conspiracy theories.

#India #censorship #outages

Rich Text Formatting is Coming To Users Too

On his Twitter account, Pavel Durov announced that extended Markdown formatting — tables, headers, formulas, task lists, and expandable quotes — will be available not only for bots, but for regular users as well. According to the founder of the messenger, everything will be tested on bots first:

Planned for later this month, but need to test everything on bots first

You can explore how the formatting works in the interactive demo: @RichTextDemoBot.

#bots

Telegram for Android and iOS Got a 12.8 Feature Upgrade

The June update resurrected the smartwatch apps and added even richer text formatting for bots.

• Telegram for Smartwatches: After many years, the messenger brought its smartwatch apps back for both Apple Watch and Android Wear OS (we fellow Pebble users sob in the corner).

The watch apps support basic features like sending text and voice messages, and viewing media attachments and video messages.

• Dozens of New Rich Text Options: This update allows Telegram bots to send more structured Markdown messages. The supported formats include all sorts of heading options, tables, blocks and spoilers, LaTeX math formulas, to-do checkbox lists, and any attachments in the middle of message text, including collages and carousel slideshows.

You can explore the new formatting in the interactive demo available at @RichTextDemoBot.

According to Pavel Durov's post on Twitter, rich formatting for regular users is planned for later this month, as the team needs to "test everything on bots first".

• Quick Browser Picker: You can now choose to open an external link in Telegram's built-in browser or vice versa, no matter what your settings are, by holding the link down.

You can now also specify site exceptions to your current settings, so if you have the built-in browser off, you can select which websites will always open in it, or, if you still have it enabled, you can choose which links will always open in the default browser app.

• Bots Can Captcha Users Before They Even Join the Chat: Admins can now assign Guardian Bots that will process join requests. When a user attempts to join such a chat, a Web App is launched instantly, where verification takes place. For example, it could be a quiz, a Cloudflare Turnstile checkbox, or a form to write an essay the chat owner has due tomorrow.

Other updates:
• Android got an app bar design refresh to more closely match the iOS app design (just in time for when Apple reverted a lot of the top floating panels nonsense in iOS 27).
• Poll options can now include links.
• The built-in Telegram browser now supports previewing .md pages

Article: https://telegram.org/blog/watch-apps-and-more/

Download the update
• Android: Google Play, APK from the official website or verified channel.
• iOS: App Store.

#update #Android #iOS

Telegram for Android and iOS updated to version 12.7

In the May update, the app received a number of useful tools aimed at combating vote manipulation in polls and reaction spammers in groups.

• Custom styles for the AI editor: Telegram now lets you create your own styles within the AI-powered editor. Simply come up with a name, pick an icon from custom emojis, and write a prompt for the language model.

Finished styles can be shared with other users — when opening the link, they'll see examples of how the style transforms text. Creators can also choose to display a link to their profile in the style preview window.

• New poll tools: Administrators can now restrict voting to subscribers who joined the channel at least 24 hours ago. They can also set geographic restrictions, allowing only users from specific countries to participate in a poll.

• Removing reactions in groups: Group admins with the "Delete messages" permission can now remove reactions to any message. To do so, open the full reactions list and long-press the user.

It is also possible to restrict reactions in group chats — either for all members or for a specific user.

• Business bots for all users: Telegram now allows any user to connect business bots to their account, even without Telegram Premium. These bots can automatically handle chats and interact with customers.

Since the launch of Telegram Business in 2024, this feature had been available exclusively to Premium subscribers.

Other changes
• An option to send scheduled messages silently has been added.
• Markdown files (.md) up to 64 KB now open in Instant View mode.
• Poll statistics are now available for polls with at least 100 votes.
• Bots that power automated tools and AI assistants in Telegram can now be invoked directly from the message input field (guest mode support for bots).

Article: telegram.org/blog/ai-bot-revolution-11-new-features/

Download the update
• Android: Google Play, APK from the official website or verified channel.
• iOS: App Store.

#update #Android #iOS

Passkeys in Third-Party Telegram Clients

Instructions describing how Passkey authorization works for third-party clients have appeared in the Telegram API documentation.

The main caveat of this new feature is that Passkeys will not be universal. You will not be able to log into the official Telegram app using a passkey created in a third-party client (and vice versa).

As a reminder, late last year Telegram added support for Passkeys — a convenient and secure way to log into your account using biometrics or a PIN code without needing SMS. In our FAQ at the time, we clarified that this option was only available in official Telegram clients.

You can only use Passkeys to log into an existing account. Creating a new account still requires receiving an SMS code.

How This Will Work

Now, developers of alternative clients have the opportunity to implement this feature, but with a significant limitation:

Passkeys only work in the app where they were created. A Passkey from the official Telegram app will not work for a third-party client, and a key from a third-party app cannot be used in either the official Telegram app or any other unofficial builds.

Why Is This Happening?

This kind of isolation is not an artificial restriction imposed by Telegram, but rather a limitation of the Passkeys technology itself, which prohibits using keys on third-party websites and apps to protect against phishing.

The @tginfo editors note that the introduction of Passkeys support for third-party apps is a positive sign. Despite the technically inevitable fragmentation of keys, Telegram is not leaving users of alternative clients without modern security methods, providing them with a reliable alternative to OTP over SMS, which is expensive and sometimes unavailable in countries where Telegram is banned.

#security #authorization #passkey

British Regulator Ofcom Launches Investigation into Telegram

The British communications regulator Ofcom has launched an investigation into Telegram regarding its compliance with obligations to combat illegal content under the local Online Safety Act 2023.

According to Reuters, the investigation was prompted by data from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection regarding the spread of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on the platform, as well as the regulator's own assessment.

If violations are found, platforms could face fines of up to £18 million or 10% of their global turnover.

Telegram's Position

• The messenger "categorically" denies Ofcom's accusations.
• The company claims that since 2018, the public distribution of CSAM on the platform has been "virtually eliminated" thanks to the work of automatic detection algorithms.
• Telegram stated they are surprised by the investigation and concerned that it might be "part of a broader attack on online platforms that defend freedom ​of speech and the ​right to privacy".
• A day earlier, Pavel Durov noted that "protecting children" has become a standard PR move for lawmakers to gain control over media narratives.

Context

This is not Telegram's first clash with regulators over CSAM. In February 2025, the Australian regulator eSafety fined the messenger $600,000 for delaying a response to a similar request. In response, the company abandoned its usual passive stance, moved to active legal defense, and sued Australia, challenging the legality of the fine.

At the end of 2024, Telegram officially agreed to cooperate with the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) — one of the key organizations maintaining CSAM signature databases. Our team has also extensively analyzed Telegram's internal moderation processes based on reports for eSafety: the disclosed documents reveal that photos and videos in all private groups and channels on the platform are automatically scanned against known illegal materials.

Recently, the UK has been consistently ramping up pressure on social media. Earlier this year, to comply with local legislation, Telegram already had to launch an experimental facial age verification system for British users.

It is worth noting that in recent years, under the banner of child protection, European countries have been increasingly pushing requirements that could violate privacy of communications and live. For example, due to requirements from this same Ofcom, Apple was forced to disable E2E encryption for iCloud backups, and the European Union is developing the EU Chat Control law, which is similar to the British OSA in its invasiveness.

#UK #moderation #laws

New Limits on Poll Participation

In the source code for Telegram Desktop, there are lines of code that show the addition of tools to track and stop poll-rigging:

• The option to allow voting only for users who subscribed to the channel at least 24 hours ago.
• The ability to allow voting only to users from a selected country (or multiple countries).
• The ability to view poll statistics.

Let us remind you that in 2020, the Telegram team had already created polls in which the answer options were available only to users with Belarusian SIM cards.

It remains unclear, however, whether the platform will allow channel administrators to disable voting for subscribers who join the channel after a poll is posted or whether it will make the same mistake as with giveaways, where this option is also unavailable.

#Desktop #polls