Although it may not be your most preferred app for text messaging, you may certainly have been allured by Telegram for having a bunch of channels that you can join to get the latest updates on news, entertainment, sports, politics, business, or other content. Channels support sharing large-sized files and are designed for reaching a vast audience, so anyone in the world can join them with the tap of a button and access anything that’s being shared inside a channel.
While this could be helpful for many of us, the same comes with its own demerits. Because you can share large-sized files to a large audience (up to 200,000 people), some channels use the platform to spread pirated media, explicit content, or in the worst case, spread violence and hatred messages. When Telegram finds that a channel is being used performing any of the aforementioned illegal activities, it takes down the channel either by hiding it from general view or banning it entirely.
This is when you’ll be met with the “This Channel cannot be displayed” message inside a channel. However, you may also be prompted with a similar error message for when the region you’re in limits a specific content or the content you want to access is not illegal but is sensitive. In such cases, you may be able to get past this prompt and open the channel using any of the following fixes listed below.
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Fix #1: Enable sensitive content using Nicegram Bot
One way to show content from a channel that’s inaccessible is by using the Nicegram Bot inside the Telegram app. You can start a chat with the bot by simply searching for “Nicegram bot” and selecting the bot that has this username – @Nicegram_bot. Alternatively, you can access this bot by going to t.me/Nicegram_bot and tapping on Send Message.
When a chat thread with the bot loads up, tap on Start at the bottom.
Next, turn on these two toggles – I’m 18+ years old and Show sensitive content by tapping on them. When enabled, you’ll see a tick mark adjacent to both options.
You can now restart Telegram and check if the channels that were previously inaccessible now open.
Related: How To Send Disappearing Messages on Telegram
Fix #2: Turn on the “Disable filtering” toggle inside Telegram Web Settings
If the above method doesn’t help fix the issue, you will have to access Telegram on the web or use its desktop client, both of which can be used to prevent content filtering from affecting your channel visibility. Once you’ve opened the Telegram desktop app or its web app, click on the hamburger icon at the top left corner.
In the overflow menu that appears, select Settings.
When the Settings screen appears, click on Privacy and Security.
You’ll now see a bunch of options. Here, turn on the Disable filtering toggle.
This should allow the content from the channel accessible to you. In case it’s not, it means that what you’re trying to view is either restricted in your region, banned completely, or has been deleted by the channel’s creator.
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Fix #3: Use a VPN and set it to another country
In regions where content is heavily filtered, Telegram applies restrictions to some channels that prevent users from viewing anything in a channel if they hail from such a region or their account was created with the region’s phone number. If you’re in a region where specific content is restricted by Telegram, you can dodge this restriction by using a VPN app.
Since most VPN apps allow users to set their location to anywhere else in the globe, they can try to access the content shared from the channel that’s restricted. While it isn’t guaranteed that a channel will be instantly accessible by changing countries on a VPN app, you can check whether this is works by keeping the VPN enabled for a few hours so that Telegram registers the new IP address you’re using it from which may have worked for some users.
Fix #4: Use Telegram from a non-restricted country
Another way you can bypass regional restrictions for Telegram channels is by creating a new Telegram account with a phone number that belongs to a region other than your country. While that may seem like a tricky thing to do, you can create a new VOIP number from a bunch of services like TextNow and TextFree for cheap to create a new account on Telegram.
Once you have gotten hold of a new phone number, you can create a new Telegram account by following the instructions below:
- On Android: Tap on the hamburger icon, then go to the down arrow adjacent to your name and tap Add Account.
- On iOS: Go to the Settings tab, tap on Edit and select Add Another Account from the bottom.
From there, add your new phone number and follow the on-screen instructions to create a new Telegram account.
Since Telegram allows you to use up to 3 different accounts at once, you can use multiple instances of the chatting app to message your loved ones from one account and access channels that are restricted from another when necessary.
Fix #5: Use a different device
In our personal experience, we had mixed results with a channel’s content when testing Telegram across a bunch of devices. For instance, some channels weren’t at all visible on Telegram’s iOS app but were accessible without any issues on the Telegram for Android app. Similarly, accessing Telegram’s macOS client restricted a lot of channels but when using the platform’s web client on Firefox on the same desktop enabled all of the channel’s content.
Although we can’t find a meaningful reason as to why this happens, you can check whether a channel is visible on other devices you own. In case this doesn’t work, you can try out logging in to Telegram’s web client on different web browsers to see which one works.
Fix #6: Be wary of the channels you visit
Telegram, like other online platforms, moderates the content that’s posted on it. Since not all channels are created with the same intentions, the messaging app takes down those channels that share pirated media, pornographic content, shares hate speech, or are involved in any kind of illegal activity. If the channel you want to access has anything to do with such activities, we suggest you steer clear of such channels in the future.
That’s all you need to know about fixing the “This channel cannot be displayed” issue on Telegram.
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