Apple's Telegram Removal Raises Questions About Its Moderation Policies

Elon Musk in the Oval Office on May 30th, 2025. | Photo by Kevin Dietsch / For roughly an hour this week, Telegram vanished from Apple's App Store. Even during that blip, it was a stunning absence for such a major app: an avenue of communication for more than 1 billion users around the world, used widely as a secure platform for people who live in countries under censorship. Apple later revealed that it had removed the app due to the presence of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and restored it once that content was removed.

But the decision once again stirred up questions and confusion about Apple's moderation policies and how it treats different companies. And one company in particular sprang to many people's minds: X, the Elon Musk-owned platform that stayed on the App Store even as sexualized Grok-generated images of children flooded the platform. Apple yanked Telegram from the App Store over an instance of illegal content, while allowing X to remain amid a flurry of nonconsensual deepfakes.

What led to Telegram's removal but X's ability to stay online? The answer may be more political than technical.