Goodbye to your maximum privacy: Telegram gives in to governments and will provide data of its users
Following the arrest of its CEO, the app has made several changes to satisfy the authorities
It was only a few weeks ago that French authorities arrested Pavel Durov, CEO and founder of the instant messaging app Telegram, accusing him of being an accomplice and potential ally in the commission of crimes of fraud, crimes against minors or drug trafficking, among others, for the operation of his platform.
And the success of Telegram lay in the extremely high level of privacy of its chats and groups, which led to the app being used for communications of all kinds of crimes, as we said before, with total impunity because the authorities did not have access to these conversations, in addition to the lack of content moderation.
This led to Durov being arrested as an accomplice to all this, and although Telegram called these accusations “absurd” and assured that they were complying with EU laws, including the Digital Services Act, in recent weeks they have implemented several changes to their platform.
In this way, without saying it openly, they are acknowledging that they did not comply with EU standards, and at the beginning of the month Durov himself explained from his Telegram account that they were going to introduce a series of changes to the app.
One of the most notable changes was the elimination of the possibility of finding people and opening a chat with them based on proximity , but the changes do not stop there, and now following the same method, Durov has announced a new twist in Telegram’s policy.
As explained, Telegram will provide data about its users, such as phone numbers and IP addresses, to authorities that make a legal request . This is a turning point, as the app has always resisted handing over information about its users in response to government requests.
All indications are that after seeing the wolf’s ears, Durov has reconsidered and will not oppose requests that have to do with legal proceedings . This act demonstrates how difficult it is to find a balance between privacy and security, and we can be sure that there are still many changes to come.
In fact, Telegram has begun using AI to regulate content instead of a human moderator to hide problematic or illegal content. This will be one of the many changes that both this and other apps will have to come up with to ensure that their platforms do not become a hotbed of crime.
