Telegram abandons privacy above all: Bad news for criminals

It seems that the arrest of Pavel Durov by the French authorities has achieved what many of us thought was impossible: that Telegram collaborates in police operations and stops hosting illegal content without consequences.

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If you’re wondering, before the arrest of Pavel Durov by French police last month, the Telegram application had said that it did not process requests from law enforcement and/or judges. Now the tables seem to have turned.

A month after French authorities accused him of allowing drug trafficking and child abuse on his platform, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov announced on Monday that the popular messaging app has taken several measures to remove illegal material.

Changes in Telegram’s policies to assist police and judges

In a significant change, the company has modified its policies and will now provide the IP addresses and phone numbers of Telegram users to law enforcement in response to valid legal requests.

Before Durov’s arrest, the company’s FAQ page stated: “All Telegram chats and chat groups are private between their participants. We do not process any requests related to them.”

In a post on Telegram, first reported by Bloomberg, Durov said that a team of moderators has spent the past few weeks removing unsafe and illegal content. Telegram has also updated the platform’s search function to make it less likely for such material to appear.

“These measures should deter criminals,” wrote Durov. “The search on Telegram is meant to find friends and discover news, not to promote illegal products. We will not let bad actors jeopardize the integrity of our platform for nearly a billion users.”

Durov, a French national, was detained on August 28 after landing in his private jet at an airport on the outskirts of Paris following a trip to Azerbaijan. French prosecutors accused him of facilitating the distribution of child sexual abuse material, organized fraud, and association with criminals to commit offenses.

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The prosecutor’s press release also alleged that Telegram did not share information with the police about illegal activities on the platform.

In the weeks since Durov’s arrest, Telegram has introduced several changes to the platform, in addition to the new policy governing law enforcement requests.