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Telegram, an instant messaging platform has vowed to legal pressure to share Users' phone number, IP addresses to relevant authorities on request.
This is coming in less than a month after the Chief Executive Officer, Telegram Pavel Durov was arrested in France where he was charged with alleged complicity in the spread of child sexual abuse materials on the platform.
Durov stated on Tuesday that he will henceforth provide Telegram users’ IP addresses and phone numbers to relevant authorities.
He said the policy change became pertinent following the need to maintain some level of 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 required to triangulate users’ activity elsewhere.
“To date, we have disclosed 0 bytes of user messages to third parties, including governments,” the service’s FAQ still affirmed.
