Instant messaging platform Telegram has bowed to legal pressure less than a month after the Chief Executive Officer Pavel Durov was arrested in France where he was charged with alleged complicity in the spread of child sexual abuse materials.
Durov stated on Monday that he will henceforth provide Telegram users’ IP addresses and phone numbers to relevant authorities if requested.
He stated that the policy change is the use of some moderation that will allow Telegram to clear its name from “notoriously non-responsive to takedown requests” and “often ignored requests for information about suspected criminals”.
Durov also stated that the platform has created a human moderation team and AI which will be used to remove “problematic” content from its search results and urged users to report any unsafe and unlawful content to the team for review and removal if necessary.
It remains unknown how much these modifications will impact Telegram’s appeal to people involved in illegal activity.
The new modification now offers Telegram users the option to choose from multiple levels of anonymizing features, such as vanishing messages, end-to-end encryption, or the ability to use the service without a SIM card.
However, IP addresses and phone numbers may still be helpful for triangulating users’ activity elsewhere.
“To date, we have disclosed 0 bytes of user messages to third parties, including governments”, the service’s FAQ still boasts.
