Belgium’s telecoms watchdog is conducting a formal review of Telegram’s adherence to European Union regulations targeting terrorist content online, citing a high volume of legal actions tied to the platform.
The Belgian Institute of Post and Telecommunications (BIPT) revealed in its newly released annual report that it received 454 cross-border injunctions in 2024 related to content hosted by Telegram.
“Given the large number of Telegram users and the number of injunctions issued against Telegram, BIPT conducted an in-depth investigation into Telegram’s compliance with the obligations of the Terrorist Content Online (TCO) Regulation in 2024,” the report stated. The regulator plans to continue its scrutiny in 2025 and expand its oversight to include other hosting providers under its remit.
BIPT also announced plans to designate certain hosting service providers as “exposed to terrorist content online”later this year. Though Telegram is legally incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, its EU legal representative is based in Brussels, placing it under BIPT’s jurisdiction.
The TCO Regulation, in force since June 2022, mandates that hosting services must remove terrorist content within one hour of receiving an official takedown order from an EU member state. Non-compliance could lead to financial penalties of up to 4% of a provider’s global revenue.
Telegram has faced bans in several countries amid concerns about disinformation and extremism. In the UK, the app was reportedly used to coordinate anti-immigrant riots in August last year. Its co-founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, was also detained near Paris in connection with an investigation into alleged offenses including organized crime and drug trafficking.
Separately, BIPT is monitoring Telegram’s adherence to the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). Telegram reports having 41 million monthly users in the EU, falling short of the 45 million threshold required to be classified as a Very Large Online Platform (VLOP)—a designation that would subject it to direct oversight by the European Commission.
According to the report, BIPT received about 10 complaints regarding DSA breaches, “the majority concerned Telegram.” The regulator collaborated with Dutch and Estonian authorities to address these complaints.
