Telegram’s Policy Shift - IP Address And More To Be Shared With Authorities

Telegram has been in the news lately following the arrest of founder Pavel Durov.

According to CNN the tech billionaire was investigated and eventually placed in custody in France “for several suspected offenses related to criminal activity on the platform, including complicity in illegal gang transactions…”

Durov denied these claims.

There was a notion that Durov was arrested due to his ties with Russia (he has numerous citizenships including Russia) but French President Macron denies these claims.

Speaking of free speech, Telegram is a widely popular messaging app due to its focus on privacy, taking the notion of free speech to the extreme. Without content moderation and the promise of encryption, the app has become a wild west of messaging as it has allegedly become the messaging app for terrorists and extremists.

Durov was released after 96 hours and has released a statement on Telegram stating that “Using laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages is a misguided approach.” He also claims they are removing “millions of harmful posts and channels” on a daily basis.

Telegram’s Policy Update

As the European Union has expanded their authority on technology for security purposes, it seems that the latest policy update from Telegram has acknowledged this authority. According to Bloomberg, Telegram may now provide “IP addresses and phone numbers to relevant authorities in response to valid legal requests.” They have also made some internal changes on how they moderate content which will now take advantage of AI as well as the use of actual “human moderators”.

It’s an expected update from Telegram but surprising nonetheless considering that the proposed moderation and cooperation with authorities was announced just a month after the founder’s arrest in Paris. Durov was arrested as soon as he landed in Paris and was only released after the bail of $5.56 million was set.

Reactions

A common reaction to Durov’s arrest in France is that it’s an action against free speech but it’s a double edged sword since “Critics say Telegram has become a hotbed of misinformation, child pornography, and terror-related content partly because of a feature that allows groups to have up to 200,000 members,” according to BBC.

Those who use Telegram for personal reasons without the intention of using it for illegal purposes should never be concerned. However, getting your IP exposed to the authorities on suspicion of something could place your privacy in jeopardy. It’s a system that has to be handled carefully to prevent abuse.

Even with the latest policy update, Telegram’s privacy-focused features are still in place. They have also claimed that they have not turned over any messages to authorities as of late.

Implications

Durov’s arrest and eventual shift in policy by cooperating to authorities should be taken as a signal to other tech companies especially those that operate within the European Union. Privacy and freedom of speech as a platform for service does not give a blanket excuse not to prevent any harmful and dangerous speech taking place. While tech founders and CEOs could claim that they don’t believe in these messages, they still have to police these messages, groups and other third party tools working with their apps and prevent hosting any dangerous messages.

For users, it should also be a warning to those who are active in illicit activities. Telegram - a messaging platform that focuses on privacy has agreed to work with authorities which means other messaging platforms and related services should take this as a warning and set up self moderation as soon as possible to protect users and their business.