Telegram: encrypted messaging, channels, and groups

Telegram is a messaging app known for channels, large groups, bots, and strong privacy options. Many people use it for legitimate news, hobbies, or work. It is also used to move conversations off more visible apps, including in cases where harm networks have targeted minors.

Investigations in 2024 and reporting from outlets including the Washington Post and WIRED have described how organised groups use Telegram alongside other platforms to groom children, coerce them with blackmail, and escalate abuse in private or encrypted spaces. The FBI has warned about such activity targeting young users. The same pattern applies elsewhere: contact may start on a public feed or game chat, then shift to Telegram where parents and moderators see less.

In May 2026, Dutch prosecutors took the adult site Motherless offline after broadcasters and CNN-linked reporting tied it to thousands of “sleep” abuse videos and a private Telegram group called Zzz. That case is a reminder that Telegram is not only used for teen chat: it can host invite-only groups linked to serious crime. See Motherless shutdown and Zzz content.

For risks specific to Discord servers and community chat, see our Discord article.

For a country-level enforcement example, see Brazil's Telegram suspension in a neo-Nazi probe.

What parents can do

• Ask whether your teen uses Telegram and what they use it for (channels, groups, one-to-one chats).
• Discuss stranger contact and why someone might ask to move a chat to a “more private” app.
• Combine this with our general guidance on encrypted or ephemeral spaces (disappearing messages and oversight).