The brief removal and restoration of Telegram from the App Store was a targeted attack by a "takedown extortionist," and it's something the company's CEO says can be weaponized against other apps, too. On Monday evening, Telegram was removed from the App Store for a number of hours, following a report that CSAM material was posted to it. While Durov claims the moderation on Telegram is "effective," the attackers turned to technical tricks to hide the content. First, extortionists are now able to "manipulate Apple into overreacting," with Apple removing Telegram before contacting the app. "If an app used by more than a billion people can be removed from the App Store without prior warning, any app can be," he warns.