UK Opens Online Safety Act Probe Into Telegram and Teen Chat Platforms

Ofcom has opened an investigation into Telegram over evidence that the platform may have been used to share child sexual abuse material (CSAM), citing information from the Canadian Centre for Child Protection and its own assessment under the UK Online Safety Act. The regulator said the probe will examine whether Telegram is meeting its duties to prevent illegal content and child sexual abuse and exploitation risks on user-to-user services. Telegram denied the allegations, saying it has largely eliminated public CSAM distribution since 2018 through detection systems and cooperation with NGOs, and argued the action may reflect broader pressure on privacy-focused platforms.

The UK regulator also launched investigations into Teen Chat and Chat Avenue over suspected failures to protect children from grooming, with Chat Avenue additionally facing scrutiny over possible exposure of minors to harmful content including pornography. Ofcom is separately examining X over nonconsensual sexually explicit content reportedly generated through the Grok AI chatbot account. Under the Online Safety Act, Ofcom can order platforms to make corrective changes, levy fines of up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying worldwide revenue, and in serious cases seek court orders to disrupt or block access to non-compliant services in the UK.