Telegram Briefly Removed From Apple App Store Over Content Policy Violation

Popular messaging platform Telegram was briefly removed from the Apple App Store on Monday. 

Users in the US, India, Australia, Singapore, Russia, Turkey, and several other regions could no longer find or download the app from the App Store. 

But for users who had already installed Telegram, the app continued to work normally, with no reported service disruptions. 

Following its removal, speculation quickly spread online, with some linking the incident to Telegram founder Pavel Durov or broader political issues. None of those claims turned out to be true. 

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Why Telegram was removed from the Apple App Store 

In a statement, Apple confirmed the temporary removal, saying: 

“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.” 

Apple issued the statement around 20 minutes after Telegram had already returned to the App Store. 

Responding to the incident on X, Telegram wrote: