responds

Telegram has removed accounts linked to a Hausa-language network that openly sold child sexual abuse material across northern Nigeria, following an inquiry by HumAngle, but the platform has not explained how the network survived repeated suspensions over three months before our investigation was published.

In an email response to HumAngle, a Telegram spokesperson confirmed that moderators had “processed the content reported and removed anything they could identify as breaching our terms.” The platform also provided a formal statement defending its broader moderation record, saying it had removed more than 305,000 groups and channels related to child sexual abuse material in 2026 alone.

“The distribution of CSAM  is explicitly forbidden by Telegram’s terms of service and we use industry-leading moderation techniques to remove it,” the statement read.

The response came hours after HumAngle published an investigation documenting a network of Hausa-language Telegram channels, X accounts, and TikTok profiles selling access to child sexual abuse material through paid VIP groups priced at up to ₦100,000, distributing non-consensual intimate videos of women, and advertising sexual services using photographs stolen from unsuspecting social media users. The investigation, published on July 23, traced two central operators identified through payment records as Fatima Mahmud, who used the name “Teema” or “TeemaTV,” and Khadijah Adamu, who operated under the identities “Khadeeja Deejah,” “Deejah,” “Nanadady,” and “Deharjah.”

Before publication, HumAngle sent Telegram a detailed request for comment, summarising the findings and posing specific questions about the platform’s moderation of Hausa-language content and its capacity to detect coordinated networks of replacement channels. The reply arrived hours after publication.

Alongside the statement to HumAngle, Telegram said it scans all media uploaded to its public platform against a hash database of previously removed Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), supplemented with datasets from the Internet Watch Foundation and the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre. The platform added that it processes CSAM reports from authorities and NGOs around the world.

Those measures, if applied consistently, should in theory have flagged material within the network HumAngle documented. But the investigation found that administrators avoided posting child sexual abuse material directly on public channels, instead using screen records and screenshots of media catalogues as proof of possession before directing paying customers into private conversations. That structure, common across similar networks documented by investigations in India, Sudan, Malaysia, and Brazil, appears designed to stay one step ahead of hash-matching tools that identify known material rather than advertisements for it.

What was taken down

HumAngle’s own review found that most, although not all, of the accounts and channels documented in the original investigation had been taken down. Fatima Mahmud’s administrator account, @teematv2, was no longer active, along with several of her channels, including @teematv7 and @teematv9, and other successive replacements identified during the monitoring period. 

One channel, @teematv8, remained accessible after the takedowns, however. On X, Fatima’s account also remains active.

Within the wider network, HumAngle also identified accounts tied to Khadijah Adamu, including @Deekano and @realsadiyaharka, as well as channels operating as @arewagidanharka1 and @gidanharkaxx. HumAngle shared these identifiers with Telegram directly, while noting that the ecosystem documented in the original investigation was larger than what could be fully captured during three months of monitoring, and that additional accounts likely remain. At the time of publishing this report, Khadija Adamu remains active.

What the response does not address

Telegram’s statement points to a large-scale, ongoing moderation effort. They sit, however, alongside a specific finding from the original investigation: the network, monitored for three months, rebuilt through replacement accounts faster than individual removals could disrupt it, with no public indication that Telegram’s existing systems had identified it as a coordinated network rather than a series of isolated violations. 

Telegram did not address HumAngle’s questions about what proactive measures exist to detect coordinated replacement networks, the moderation capacity the platform applies to Hausa-language content specifically, whether any of the documented channels had been previously reported before HumAngle’s inquiry, or whether the platform coordinates with Nigerian authorities such as the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) when CSAM-related accounts are removed.

HumAngle’s requests for comment to X and to NAPTIP remain outstanding at the time of publication.

Interim President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, says 80% of the buildings that collapsed in back-to-back earthquakes were privately developed. She also confirmed that more than 2,500 people are dead and that search and rescue operations still continue.

Catia la Mar, Venezuela – Andreina Velasquez looks up at her multistorey apartment block overlooking Catia la Mar, a coastal city in the Venezuelan state of La Guaira. The concrete slabs that once separated each floor are now stacked on top of each other.

“They fell like a pack of cards,” she said, pointing to where she used to live on the sixth floor.

Velasquez feels lucky. She left her apartment a couple of hours before a pair of deadly earthquakes shook Venezuela on June 24, reaching magnitudes of 7.2 and 7.5, respectively.

She had gone to get a new key cut and was at the beach when the first quake struck.

Her neighbours did not make it. She remembers one as a gentle, retired man, another as a woman with a young daughter who had just moved in. They had been overjoyed with their view of the sea.

Velasquez is still struggling to process what she has lost. Her state was among the hardest hit by the earthquakes.

But despite her grief, she has started to hand out face masks to passersby, hoping to shield them from the gusts of dust drifting from the collapsed buildings and the stench rising from the rubble.

“I’ve been here every day. Other people came to help, but they don’t have helmets, they don’t have gloves, they don’t have masks. That’s why I’m helping,” she said.

More than 2,295 people have been killed and 11,000 injured in the twin earthquakes, according to Venezuela’s National Assembly. The United Nations has warned the death toll could rise to 10,000.

As Venezuela continues to confront the destruction, experts say recovery efforts have been driven largely by volunteers and neighbours like Velasquez.

Hospitals are overwhelmed, and government aid has been slow to reach some of the worst-affected areas.

Carolina Jimenez, the president of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a research and advocacy group, told Al Jazeera that the result has been growing anger towards the state.

“In a government in any other country, the first responder should be the state,” she said. “In the case of Venezuela, the state has been the last responder.”

In places like Catia la Mar, north of Caracas, authorities still haven’t arrived or are lacking.

Velasquez and other locals say that help from the federal government only arrived on Sunday — three days after the earthquakes hit the country. In some parts of La Guaira, such assistance has yet to arrive at all.

“[The] response has come from citizens, from civil society, from humanitarian workers, from volunteers — but not from the government,” Jimenez said.

TV presenter Ashley Cain has been accused of using sexual and misogynistic language to describe women in a series of historical social media posts and now the BBC has spoken out on the matter

The BBC says it is taking accusations that presenter Ashley Cain used explicit sexual and misogynistic language to describe women online in historical social media posts “very seriously”.

The broadcaster is thought to be unaware of the remarks prior to an investigation led by The Guardian which claimed the TV personality frequently referred to women on X, formerly Twitter, using abusive terms and sexualised language, including “sl*gs”, “sl*ts” and “psychos”.

A BBC spokesperson said: “We are very clear we expect the highest standards of behaviour from everyone who works with or for the BBC. “When allegations are brought to our attention we take them seriously. We will consider this information carefully and do not intend to comment further at this stage.”

The former Coventry City football player, 35, is best known for fronting the BBC Three documentary series Ashley Cain: Into The Danger Zone where he explores issues affecting young men born into a life of criminality.

The newspaper reported on Wednesday that before Cain worked for the national broadcaster he was a prolific user of social media. In 2014, in response to a since-deleted tweet he perceived to be homophobic, Cain is accused of telling a woman online that she should “go and choke on a c*** you sl**”.

Cain’s X account appears to have been removed from the platform. The broadcaster is understood to have asked the independent production companies that hired Cain to review the social media checks conducted at the time.

Cain appeared last year on the BBC’s spin off cooking programme, Celebrity MasterChef. Transmission details of Into The Danger Zone series two are yet to be announced.

The star also gained respect from the public following the tragic death of his daughter Azaylia, Ashley and his then-partner, Azaylia’s mum Safiyya Vorajee, documented their extraordinary efforts to try and save her life – including raising £1.5 million to fly her to Singapore for specialist treatment.

But sadly, the child died on April 25, 2021. Ashley and his former partner went on to form The Azaylia Foundation, which supports families dealing with childhood cancer.

Five years on from the devastating day of the youngster’s funeral, dad Ashley shared an Instagram post. Alongside solemn images from the funeral, Ashley wrote: “Today I cried for the first time in a long time. As soon as I turned into the cemetery and saw her resting place, I couldn’t control the emotions that had obviously built up inside me.

“The truth is, I cannot believe it has been 5 years since we laid her to rest, and I still can’t seem to accept it. “But my time spent with her today was peaceful, it was beautiful, and it was one of those moments where time stood still… where I could reminisce about all that she was, and every moment I was privileged and blessed enough to spend with her.”

He went on: “May you continue to rest in eternal paradise my princess, and until we meet again… I will love you with the entirety of my heart, forever and always.”

The Mirror has contacted Ashley’s representatives for comment.