Telegram will make more data available to governments
Telegram wants to release user data in response to legal requests. Moderators are already using AI to remove problematic content from search results.
(Image: Mehaniq/Shutterstock.com)
The communication app Telegram will pass on users' IP addresses and telephone numbers to the relevant authorities if this is legally permissible. This was explained by Telegram CEO Pawel Durow in a post on Telegram on Monday. This was reported by the Bloomberg news agency, among others. Accordingly, the platform has changed its terms of use to prevent abuse by criminals.
"To further deter criminals from abusing Telegram search, we've updated our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy to make sure they're consistent around the world. We've made it clear that the IP addresses and phone numbers of those who violate our rules may be shared with the appropriate authorities upon valid legal requests," Durow said on his Telegram channel.
Durov was arrested in France at the end of August. The French judiciary accuses the Russian-born 39-year-old billionaire, who holds French citizenship among other things, of complicity in the dissemination of child sexual abuse material. Telegram is also allegedly not taking sufficient action against the dissemination of criminal and extremist content on the platform. Durow called the accusations "absurd"; he had "nothing to hide". The Telegram boss has since been released on bail, but is not allowed to leave France for now.
The announcement that he intends to cooperate more closely with the authorities can certainly be seen as a consequence of his arrest. Telegram has previously been known for its rather lax moderation of content and refusal to make data available to law enforcement authorities. A rethink was already evident at the beginning of September, when the Telegram CEO promised better content moderation and announced that he wanted to do more to combat the activities of criminals on the platform. Now, Durow explained that recently, a team of moderators using artificial intelligence (AI) has made Telegram searches much safer and started to hide dubious content from search results. "All problematic content that we have identified in search is no longer accessible."
In the past, Telegram's general refusal to cooperate with authorities has repeatedly drawn the ire of governments from countries in the European Union, as well as states such as Russia and Iran. The app has been used by government opponents to organize themselves, but has also become a magnet for conspiracy theorists and extremists.
(akn)
