Telegram’s co-founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, disclosed on Wednesday that the messaging platform has been cooperating with authorities and sharing user information related to criminal investigations since 2018.
This includes revealing the IP addresses and phone numbers of individuals involved in “serious offenses”.
Durov, currently facing legal issues in France, clarified that the company has been complying with privacy policies across various countries.
Last month Telegram updated its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy to explicitly state that user data could be shared with law enforcement when legitimate legal requests are made.
In a follow-up message on his channel, Durov said that this policy update is not a “major shift” and that Telegram had already been working with authorities for years. He confirmed that, upon receiving valid legal requests, the platform would verify and disclose the relevant data of criminals abusing the service.
The CEO pointed to examples such as Brazil and India, where Telegram has complied with over 200 and nearly 7,000 legal requests, respectively, in 2024 alone. Additionally, Durov mentioned an increase in requests from European authorities, likely due to more countries using appropriate legal channels.
Durov reiterated that Telegram’s commitment to freedom and privacy remains unchanged, stating that the platform was built to protect activists and ordinary users from corrupt governments, while ensuring that criminals do not exploit it to evade justice.
Durov’s statement comes amid his legal troubles in France, where he was detained in late August and charged with 12 offenses, including complicity in crimes such as child pornography, drug trafficking, and money laundering.
The charges are linked to accusations that Telegram’s moderation policies allow criminal activity to flourish on the platform. Durov has strongly denied the allegations, defending Telegram’s efforts to remove harmful content and cooperate with state regulators to balance privacy and security.
Image credit: Dima Solomin
