Telegram Content Moderation: A Simplified Overview
đź”’ 1. Private Chats & Secret Chats: Privacy First
Private Chats: Telegram does not scan messages unless a user reports the conversation.
Secret Chats: Fully end-to-end encrypted; even when reported, Telegram cannot access message content. Only anonymous “signals” may trigger an investigation.
đź“Ł 2. Groups & Channels: Reports Trigger Review
Private Groups/Channels: Not visible to moderators unless reported.
Public Groups/Channels: Must not promote violence, child abuse, or illegal pornography.
Even groups without usernames may be treated as public if their links are shared openly.
Automatic Scanning: Images and videos in private spaces may be scanned to detect known illegal content.
🤖 3. Automated Detection: When and How It Works
Triggered only by user reports or in public spaces.
Can detect images, videos, and text.
65% of flagged extreme content is sent to human reviewers; the rest is handled by AI based on confidence scores.
High-confidence child abuse content is removed immediately.
🚨 4. What Telegram Detects
Known illegal content (e.g. extremist materials):
Automatically scanned across all groups/channels (not private chats).
New suspected content:
Telegram analyzes usernames, bios, text, and profile images after reports.
Once confirmed, content is added to a blocklist for future detection.
🧠5. Tech Behind the System
Uses in-house + Europol databases for image/text detection.
Multilingual AI models with behavioral signals (e.g. admin activity) to assess risk.
Doesn’t rely on static blacklists—AI detects similar behavior/patterns.
Monitors links shared by unregistered users or verified institutions.
⚙️ 6. Content Removal & Account Actions
Reported content may lead to changes in what appears in search.
Group admins may get a warning period to fix issues.
Severe violations (e.g. child abuse, terrorist content) lead to permanent bans.
Regular members who didn’t share illegal content won’t be banned—protecting researchers, journalists, etc.
đźš« 7. Zero Tolerance for Child Abuse
Any content or account involved in child sexual abuse is instantly removed.
Admins are banned, and content is added to Telegram’s global blocklist.
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