Telegram has significantly ramped up its sharing of user data with authorities following the August 2024 arrest of its CEO, Pavel Durov. Durov, a dual citizen of France and Russia, was detained by French authorities as part of an investigation into the platform’s role in facilitating criminal activities. Telegram’s refusal to cooperate with law enforcement had previously raised concerns, particularly regarding its use by organized crime.
After his release, Durov committed to addressing illicit use of the platform, including agreeing to share user data such as IP addresses and phone numbers when legally requested. Telegram’s transparency report bot, which tracks law enforcement data requests, revealed a marked increase in requests during the last quarter of 2024, especially from the U.S., Germany, and France, where authorities sought information on thousands of users.
Researchers, including a Human Rights Watch member, launched a crowdsourced effort to track these requests, sharing the collected data on GitHub. This data showed that thousands of users were targeted across several countries, including 2,000 in the U.S., Germany, and France alone. While reports were sparse for other countries, hundreds of requests were made in nations like the UK, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
Telegram has announced that it will publish its first annual transparency report under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) later this month, which is expected to further address its cooperation with authorities and the broader issue of online safety and privacy. The increased data sharing raises questions about user privacy and the balance between compliance with legal frameworks and safeguarding digital rights.
Picture by xvector on Freepik
