Israeli District Court Orders Telegram To Actively Remove Infringing Content

The district court in the central district of Israel issued a default judgment ruling that Telegram must take action to remove copyrights infringing content from its platform.

The case, filed by ZIRA, an Israeli organization for the collective protection of copyright on the internet, dealt with the publication and distribution of copyright-infringing content, such as movies, television series, and music, on several Telegram groups. While Telegram agreed to remove the infringing content, ZIRA alleged that Telegram did not make appropriate efforts to do so in a timely manner.

Telegram did not submit an answer to the claim, and the court issued an injunction enjoining Telegram from making copyrighted content available to the public or allowing others to do so on its platform. In addition, Telegram was ordered to pay ZIRA NIS 100,000 (approximately US $30,000) in damages and NIS 60,000 (approximately US $18,000) in legal expenses.