Britain's communications regulator, Ofcom, has launched a formal investigation into the messaging app Telegram, citing evidence that child sexual abuse material (CSAM) is being shared on the platform. The probe, announced on Tuesday 22 April, follows information provided by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection and Ofcom's own assessment of the service. It is part of a broader regulatory push to enforce the UK's Online Safety Act, a sweeping 2023 law that requires user-to-user platforms — including messaging apps and social networks — to have robust systems in place to detect, prevent, and remove illegal content, including CSAM, grooming material, terrorism content, and extreme pornography. These duties came into full effect in March 2025.

Telegram, a messaging platform headquartered in Dubai with hundreds of millions of users worldwide, flatly rejected the accusations. The company said it had "virtually eliminated" the public spread of CSAM since 2018 through detection algorithms and cooperation with non-governmental organisations, and called the investigation "part of a broader attack on online platforms that defend freedom of speech and the right to privacy." However, child protection groups pushed back on that characterisation. The Internet Watch Foundation, which works to identify and remove CSAM online, acknowledged Telegram had taken some steps but said the company needed to extend safeguards across its platform — including to end-to-end encrypted chats. The NSPCC children's charity cited its own research estimating that around 100 child sexual abuse image offences are recorded by police in the UK every day.

Ofcom simultaneously announced investigations into two teen-focused chat services, Teen Chat and Chat Avenue, over concerns they were not doing enough to protect children from grooming. "Teen-focused chat services are too easily being used by predators to groom children," said Suzanne Cater, Ofcom's director of enforcement. The regulator has the power to impose fines of up to £18 million or 10% of a company's global revenues — whichever is higher — where non-compliance is found. This is not Telegram's first brush with regulators over child safety: Australia's online safety regulator fined the company in February for delays in responding to questions about measures against child abuse and violent extremist material.

The investigation underscores growing pressure on major platforms from governments seeking clearer accountability for online harms to children. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has signalled he wants tech companies to go further than current legal requirements demand, and the government is actively consulting on a potential social media ban for children under 16. Ofcom noted that while some smaller file-hosting services had made meaningful improvements after being contacted about compliance, the problem of CSAM on platforms "extends to big platforms too" — a signal that large, well-resourced services will face the same scrutiny as smaller operators.