Telegram Discloses IP Addresses Of Criminals Since 2018

According to Cointelegraph, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has clarified that the instant messaging platform has been disclosing IP addresses and phone numbers of accounts involved in criminal activities for several years. Durov addressed his followers on Oct. 2, explaining that his recent post about these disclosures might have been misunderstood as a major change in Telegram's operations. However, he emphasized that this practice has been in place since 2018. Durov stated that Telegram has been complying with legal requests for data disclosures in accordance with its privacy policies in most countries. He explained that whenever Telegram received a properly formed legal request, the company would verify it and disclose the IP addresses and phone numbers of dangerous criminals. This process has been ongoing long before the recent announcement. Durov provided data from Telegram’s Transparency Bot, which tracks the number of processed requests for data disclosures from authorities. For instance, in Brazil, Telegram disclosed data for 75 legal requests in Q1 2024, 63 in Q2, and 65 in Q3. In India, Telegram's largest market, the company satisfied 2461 legal requests in Q1, 2151 in Q2, and 2380 in Q3. Durov also emphasized that Telegram's core principles have not changed. The company continues to streamline and unify its privacy policy across different countries while striving to comply with relevant local laws, as long as they do not conflict with Telegram's values of freedom and privacy. He reiterated that Telegram was built to protect activists and ordinary people from corrupt governments and corporations, and the platform does not allow criminals to abuse its services or evade justice.