Researchers have noticed that between October and December 2024, Telegram began to provide user data to law enforcement agencies more often. Thus, from January to September 2024, Telegram complied with 14 requests from US authorities related to the disclosure of IP addresses and phone numbers, which affected a total of 108 users. But for the whole of 2024, 900 such requests were complied with, which affected a total of 2,253 users.
Such data is provided by journalists from the 404 Media publication , who used the official Telegram Transparency Reports bot, which provides transparency reports and statistics on the disclosure of user data at the request of the court. The journalists emphasize that the vast majority of requests complied with occurred in the last quarter of 2024. It is worth noting that the US authorities are far from the first in terms of the number of such requests. According to statistics from a crowdfunding project overseen by Human Rights Watch employee Etienne Maynier, India is by far the leader in this matter: in 2024, Telegram complied with 14,641 requests from this country and disclosed data on 23,535 users to law enforcement. The publication notes that the sharp increase in the disclosure of user data is clearly connected with the arrest of Pavel Durov (who was detained in France in August 2024), as well as with the fact that shortly after Durov's arrest, the platform changed its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Let us recall that the IP addresses and phone numbers of people who violate Telegram's rules may be disclosed to the relevant authorities in response to "legitimate legal requests." But if earlier the Terms of Service stated that Telegram could disclose user data only if the user was a suspect in terrorism, then from September 2024 this is possible "if Telegram receives an official request from the competent judicial authorities, which confirms that you are a suspect in a criminal case on illegal actions that violate the Telegram User Agreement." These changes have already been commented on by Pavel Durov himself. He wrote that last year Telegram developers made the search "much safer", and noted that even before the changes to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, since 2018 the messenger could disclose IP addresses and phone numbers of suspects to the authorities in most countries.
Such data is provided by journalists from the 404 Media publication , who used the official Telegram Transparency Reports bot, which provides transparency reports and statistics on the disclosure of user data at the request of the court. The journalists emphasize that the vast majority of requests complied with occurred in the last quarter of 2024. It is worth noting that the US authorities are far from the first in terms of the number of such requests. According to statistics from a crowdfunding project overseen by Human Rights Watch employee Etienne Maynier, India is by far the leader in this matter: in 2024, Telegram complied with 14,641 requests from this country and disclosed data on 23,535 users to law enforcement. The publication notes that the sharp increase in the disclosure of user data is clearly connected with the arrest of Pavel Durov (who was detained in France in August 2024), as well as with the fact that shortly after Durov's arrest, the platform changed its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Let us recall that the IP addresses and phone numbers of people who violate Telegram's rules may be disclosed to the relevant authorities in response to "legitimate legal requests." But if earlier the Terms of Service stated that Telegram could disclose user data only if the user was a suspect in terrorism, then from September 2024 this is possible "if Telegram receives an official request from the competent judicial authorities, which confirms that you are a suspect in a criminal case on illegal actions that violate the Telegram User Agreement." These changes have already been commented on by Pavel Durov himself. He wrote that last year Telegram developers made the search "much safer", and noted that even before the changes to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, since 2018 the messenger could disclose IP addresses and phone numbers of suspects to the authorities in most countries.