Controversial Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has reportedly agreed to share the IP addresses and phone numbers of users of his encrypted messaging app with government agencies making valid legal requests.
Durov, the billionaire French-Russian national who was arrested in France last month and faced a range of charges including promoting the distribution of child pornography through his popular messaging app, announced on Monday that Telegram had changed its terms of service to deter criminals from using the service.
This move represents a departure from Telegram’s previous policies, which often curtly rejected government requests for user data.
Due to its reputation as an online messaging service that protects privacy, refrains from collecting personal data, and refuses to cooperate with government agencies, Telegram has been able to build a user base of hundreds of millions of people around the world.
The app offers end-to-end encryption for chats, ensuring that only the sender and recipient can read the messages exchanged.
However, critics claim that Telegram is the preferred means of communication for criminal organizations involved in a range of illegal activities, such as money laundering, sex trafficking and the distribution of child pornography.
Telegram collects very little data compared to other messaging platforms. In the past, the company has said it would only consider sharing data with governments if the request is supported by a court order that is legally binding in the jurisdiction it operates.
The company’s headquarters are located in the United Arab Emirates, where Durov also holds citizenship.
The new updated terms of service appear to expand the company’s policies by “ensuring they are consistent across the world,” Durov wrote in a post on his Telegram channel.
Earlier this month, Durov vowed to step up efforts to combat criminal activity on his messaging app after French authorities filed preliminary charges against him, accusing him of facilitating illegal activities.
Telegram has quietly removed from its frequently asked questions page the text that said “we do not process requests related to this.”
In a Telegram post on September 5, Durov defended himself against the French judicial investigation and said he should not have been personally targeted.
“Using pre-smartphone laws to prosecute a CEO for crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach,” the post said.
“Developing technology is hard enough. No innovator will ever develop new tools if he knows that he can be held personally responsible for the potential misuse of those tools.”
While stressing that Telegram is not an “anarchic paradise,” Durov also said that the increasing number of Telegram users “led to growth problems that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.”
“That is why I have made it my personal goal to ensure that we significantly improve things in this regard. We have already started this process internally and I will share with you further details on our progress shortly,” he said.
At the end of August, Durov was arrested by French investigators at Le Bourget airport outside Paris.
The French allegations against Durov include that Telegram was used to spread material about child sexual abuse and drug trafficking and that the platform refused to provide information or documents to investigators despite being required to do so by law.
Durov, who has long said he has “nothing to hide,” is not allowed to leave France while the investigation continues.
With post wires
