It has since changed its policy in response to the founder's arrest last year. Messaging app Telegram has definitely increased its cooperation with law enforcement agencies around the world. It shares more details about thousands of users than ever before.
In the United States, Telegram provided 108 user IP addresses or phone numbers to police in connection with 14 cases in the first nine months of 2024, according to the company's quarterly transparency report. In the fourth quarter of the year, Telegram provided IP addresses or phone numbers to US authorities for 2,145 users based on 900 law enforcement requests.
in august French authorities arrested and bill Telegram founder Pavel Durov facilitates drug trafficking and child abuse on the platform By the end of September Durov Announced that the company will begin sharing additional information in response to legal requests from law enforcement agencies;
Transparency Report data for 2024 Compiled by Telegram users. In more than a dozen countries, the company has shown that it is living up to its promise.
In the first half of the year, Telegram shared the identities of just 54 users with French authorities. Between July and the end of September This has grown to 632 users (Durov was arrested on August 24), and in the final three months of the year Telegram provided information to French authorities on 1,386 users.
In the UK, more than 98 percent of user data requests Telegram responded to in the fourth quarter. In Finland the figure is 79 percent and in Belgium it is 74 percent.
Among various countries Included in the crowd-sourced Telegram transparency dataset reviewed by Gizmodo, India saw the most cooperation between Telegram and law enforcement: During 2024, companies provided IP addresses or phone numbers to users. 23,535 cases following 14,641 requests from Indian authorities
More than half of those requests–7,649–Coming in the fourth trimester But unlike other countries, Telegram responded to legal demands for user data from January to September. Data from India shows that the company responds to thousands of requests each quarter. Before the policy changes
Durov's arrest in France came after law enforcement agencies became increasingly angry. that the company did not assist with the investigation in the same way that they would expect from social media and other messaging platforms
Telegram, which allows creating large group messages that are even unencrypted But it's still more private than other social media venues. But it is also popular for many types of illegal activities.
When Durov announced that Telegram would start sharing more information with law enforcement agencies. In addition to changes to the platform's search function, he said: “These measures should discourage criminals… We will not allow bad actors to undermine the integrity of our platform for nearly any time. Billions of users.”