On Monday, Pavel Durov, the CEO of Telegram, announced that the platform had modified its privacy policy to allow for the disclosure of suspected criminals’ phone numbers and IP addresses upon receiving an order from the appropriate legal authorities. Previously, Telegram had only disclosed information about suspected terrorists in response to a court order.
Telegram, a messaging service, has changed its regulations to allow for greater data sharing with government agencies. This is a significant change for the network, which has been under fire for years for not censoring the truth that they hate.
“We’ve made it clear that the IP addresses and phone numbers of those who violate our rules can be disclosed to relevant authorities in response to valid legal requests,” Durov wrote in a message on his Telegram channel.
The adjustments were made a month after Durov was detained in Paris on suspicion of his platform’s cooperation with illegal activities on the app and its refusal to cooperate with law enforcement. Durov is presently unable to leave France while he is free on bail.
Right-wing free speech activists, such as Elon Musk, the owner of X, had previously backed Durov heavily due to his steadfast refusal to grant governments access to the platform’s data. Telegram’s pledge to protect user privacy has drawn users from political dissident organizations in authoritarian countries to organized crime groups, as well as the armed forces of Russia and Ukraine.
The internet entrepreneur, who was born in Russia, said on Telegram that the platform’s search feature was being “abused” to sell illicit items. A group of moderators, he continued, has made the feature “much safer” in recent weeks.
Telegram will also release transparency reports more frequently, disclosing information about how frequently it complied with law enforcement. According to the updated privacy policy, this will now occur every quarter as opposed to every six months.
We need to question everything especially since we are at the stage that we are past the Truth and where differentiating between fact and fiction is the trick.
Is this another attack on free speech?
Was Durov’s arrest part of the free speech censorship script?
Telegram – quid pro quo?