Roger Fingas
In a surprise move, Apple has removed popular messaging apps Telegram and Telegram X from the App Store, reportedly because of problems with "inappropriate content" being distributed through them. [Updated with apps' return]
"We were alerted by Apple that inappropriate content was made available to our users and both apps were taken off the App Store," Telegram founder Pavel Durov said on Twitter. "Once we have protections in place we expect the apps to be back on the App Store."
It's unclear what content drew Apple's attention, since Telegram is a personal messaging service. It could be the company feels Telegram isn't doing enough to let users respond to objectionable material, which would be a violation of App Store policies.
Telegram has sometimes been accused of being a platform of choice for terrorists, since its support for end-to-end encryption blocks governments from snooping on chatter. In fact the service formed a special team of moderators in Indonesia to avoid being blocked by that country's government.
The platform has some 180 million active users worldwide, most of those outside the U.S.
Update: Both Telegram and Telegram X are once again available for download.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Andrew Orr
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Wesley Hilliard
16 Comments
Couldn't people do the same type of things using Apple's iMessage? Seems kind of dumb to me.
"Inappropriate content"?!? Has Apple looked at the Tumblr app lately? LOL
I'm a little intrigued. I hope someone gets the scoop and reveals what is going on.
As for the terrorist reference, I imagine most have switched to Signal by now along with anyone else who has sensitive data to move around.