Telegram Hands US Authorities Data On Thousands of Users

Telegram's Transparency Report reveals a sharp increase in U.S. government data requests, with 900 fulfilled requests affecting 2,253 users. 'The news shows a massive spike in the number of data requests fulfilled by Telegram after French authorities arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in August, in part because of the company's unwillingness to provide user data in a child abuse investigation,' notes 404 Media. From the report: Between January 1 and September 30, 2024, Telegram fulfilled 14 requests 'for IP addresses and/or phone numbers' from the United States, which affected a total of 108 users, according to Telegram's Transparency Reports bot. But for the entire year of 2024, it fulfilled 900 requests from the U.S. affecting a total of 2,253 users, meaning that the number of fulfilled requests skyrocketed between October and December, according to the newly released data. 'Fulfilled requests from the United States of America for IP address and/or phone number: 900,' Telegram's Transparency Reports bot said when prompted for the latest report by 404 Media. 'Affected users: 2253,' it added.

A month after Durov's arrest in August, Telegram updated its privacy policy to say that the company will provide user data, including IP addresses and phone numbers, to law enforcement agencies in response to valid legal orders. Up until then, the privacy policy only mentioned it would do so when concerning terror cases, and said that such a disclosure had never happened anyway. Even though the data technically covers the entire of 2024, the jump from a total of 108 affected users in October to 2253 as of now, indicates that the vast majority of fulfilled data requests were in the last quarter of 2024, showing a huge increase in the number of law enforcement requests that Telegram completed. You can access the platform's transparency reports here.

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