Encrypted messaging company Telegram announced it will now share user data with law enforcement to combat illegal activities on the platform. This massive U-turn in privacy policy comes after the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in France last month.
Decrypt reports that Telegram, the widely popular messaging app known for its strong encryption and user privacy, is making major changes to crack down on crime in the wake of the recent arrest of its CEO Pavel Durov. In a post on Monday, Durov said Telegram will now share user data, including IP addresses and phone numbers, with authorities when users violate the app’s rules and engage in illegal activities.
The move comes after Durov himself was arrested by French police last month over allegations that Telegram was not responsive to law enforcement requests and allowed illicit content to proliferate on the platform. Durov paid a €5 million bond to be released but remains under judicial supervision in France.
Earlier this month, Durov criticized the arrest:
Writing on his personal Telegram channel, Durov expressed his surprise at learning he could be held responsible for the illegal activities of others on the platform. He argued that the established practice when a country is unhappy with an internet service is to initiate legal action against the service itself, not the CEO. “Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach,” Durov stated.
“Telegram search is meant for finding friends and discovering news, not for promoting illegal goods,” Durov wrote in explaining the policy changes. The Telegram team is now using artificial intelligence to make searches “much safer” and actively block attempts to find or share illegal content via search. Users who still try to do so “can have their IP addresses and phone numbers disclosed to relevant authorities in response to valid legal requests,” Durov warned.
With nearly one billion users worldwide, Telegram has prided itself on providing a secure, encrypted platform for communication. However, this has also attracted criminals and fraudsters who exploit that privacy to sell drugs, run crypto scams, share abusive images and more while evading law enforcement. French authorities allege Durov is also under investigation for using certain cryptography without permission in the country.
The crackdown comes as Telegram gains even more traction in the crypto space thanks to the rise of The Open Network (TON) blockchain that now powers an ecosystem of popular crypto games and tokens on the app. Telegram originally created but later abandoned TON in 2020 due to regulatory issues. However, independent developers have since revived the network, which Telegram is now embracing to pay channel operators ad revenue shares and power its in-app currency.
Read more at Decrypt here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.