The founder of Telegram Pavel Durov addressed the messenger’s policy on disclosing user information to authorities in a recent message on his Telegram channel. Durov clarified that despite recent reports, there have been no significant changes in Telegram’s operations.
Since 2018, Telegram has had a confidentiality policy in place that allows the transfer of IP addresses and phone numbers of criminals to law enforcement agencies when presented with a legally valid request. Durov highlighted that this practice has been ongoing for some time, and only requests that meet legal criteria are acted upon.
To enhance transparency, Telegram introduced a bot called @transparency that provides statistics on legal requests for data disclosure. For instance, in Brazil, 75 requests were fulfilled in the first quarter of 2024, 63 in the second, and 65 in the third. In India, a significant market for the messenger, the numbers were higher at 2461, 2151, and 2380 for the first, second, and third quarters respectively.
Europe saw an uptick in legal requests in the third quarter, attributed to an increased usage of the EU DSA Line for submitting applications by EU authorities. The contact information for this channel has been available on the Telegram website since the beginning of 2024.
Last week, Telegram streamlined and unified its privacy policy across different countries to alleviate any confusion. However, Durov affirmed that the fundamental principles of Telegram remain intact. The messenger aims to comply with local laws as long as they align with its core values of freedom and confidentiality.
Durov reiterated that Telegram was founded to safeguard activists and ordinary individuals from oppressive governments and corporations, and the platform does not condone the use of its services by criminals seeking to evade justice.