The Telegram messaging app recently made a significant update to its privacy policy, which has raised privacy concerns among its users.

Telegram will start sharing user data with relevant authorities in response to valid legal requests.

The messaging app will share the IP addresses and phone numbers of users who violate the app’s rules, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov announced on Sept. 23.

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Durov announcement. Source: Cointelegraph

The policy update raises concerns for privacy-preserving technologies, considering that it contradicts Telegram’s foundational principles, according to Anndy Lian, author and intergovernmental blockchain expert.

Lian told Cointelegraph:

“[This] highlights the ongoing tension between regulatory compliance and the protection of user data […] The concern is that such compliance could set a precedent, encouraging other privacy-focused services to follow suit, thereby eroding the privacy standards that users have come to expect.”

The new policy represents a significant change in Telegram’s user guidelines following concerns raised about the potential misuse of the platform for illegal activities. The policy shift occurred on Aug. 24, a month after  Durov was arrested  in France.

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Telegram policy update should discourage criminal activity: Durov

While Telegram’s new policy update could raise privacy concerns for the messenger app’s users, it mainly aims to curb criminal activity on the platform.

As part of Durov’s efforts to make Telegram safer, the app implemented artificial intelligence algorithms and human moderators to remove all the “problematic content” from Telegram Search.

The new policy shift aims to make Telegram Search safer for users and deter criminal activity, wrote Durov:

“These measures should discourage criminals. Telegram Search is meant for finding friends and discovering news, not for promoting illegal goods. We won’t let bad actors jeopardize the integrity of our platform for almost a billion users.”
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Most popular messenger apps. Source: Statista

Telegram is the world’s fourth most popular online messenger app, with over 900 million monthly active users as of April 2024, according to Statista .

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Meta and WhatsApp are already sharing user data with authorities

While Telegram’s policy shift may come as a surprise, it is not unprecedented among the world’s top online messaging apps.

WhatsApp, currently the largest messenger app by users, is widely known for sharing user data with law enforcement, according to the application’s privacy policy, which states:

“Based on the circumstances, we may disclose information to law enforcement in response to an emergency disclosure request where we have a good faith reason to believe that the matter involves imminent risk of serious physical injury.”

These policies are similar to Meta’s Messenger, which also complies with requests from authorities.

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Meta user data requests from authorities. Source: Meta

Since July 2013, Meta has complied with over 301,000 requests from authorities, providing user data for over 77% of the total 528,000 legal requests received, according to Meta’s policy page.

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