Embattled Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has reportedly agreed to hand over the IP addresses and phone numbers of those using his encrypted messaging app to government authorities who make legitimate legal requests.
Durov, billionaire French-Russian citizen He was arrested in France last month and charged with several crimes including facilitating the dissemination of Child pornography through your popular messaging appTelegram has changed its terms of service to prevent criminals from using the service, the company announced on Monday.
The move is a break from Telegram's previous policies, which often ignored government requests for user data.
Telegram has amassed a user base of hundreds of millions of people worldwide thanks to its reputation as an online messaging service that protects privacy, avoids data collection and rejects cooperation with government authorities.
This app offers end-to-end encryption chats which ensures that only the sender and the recipient can read the messages exchanged.
But critics claim that Telegram is the preferred method of communication for criminal organizations that engage in a range of illicit activities, including money laundering, sex trafficking and the distribution of child pornography.
Telegram collects much less data than other messaging platforms. In the past, the company has said it would consider sharing data with governments only if the request was backed by a court order that was legally binding under the jurisdiction it operates in.
The company is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates, where Durov also holds citizenship.
“The newly updated terms of service appear to expand the company's policies, ensuring they are consistent across the world,” Durov wrote in a post on his Telegram channel.
Earlier this month, Durov vowed to increase efforts to fight criminal activity on its messaging app after French authorities handed down preliminary charges He was accused of promoting illegal activities.
Telegram quietly removed language from its “FAQ” page that said “we do not process any requests related to them.”
In a September 5 Telegram post, Durov defended himself against the French judicial investigation, saying he should not have been personally targeted.
“Using laws from a pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platforms he or she manages is a misguided approach,” the post said.
“Building technology is already hard enough. No innovator would ever create new tools if they knew they could be held personally responsible for the potential misuse of those tools.”
Emphasizing that Telegram is not “some kind of lawless paradise,” Durov said the growing number of Telegram users “led to growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.”
“So I've made it my personal goal to ensure that we improve things significantly in this regard. We've already begun this process internally, and I'll share more details about our progress with you soon,” he added.
At the end of August, Durov was Detained by French investigators at Le Bourget Airport Outside Paris.
The French charges against Durov also include that Telegram is used to transmit child sexual abuse material and drug trafficking, and that the platform refused to share information or documents with investigators even when required by law.
Durov, who has long maintained he has “nothing to hide”, has been barred from leaving France while the investigation continues.
with post wire
