Pavel Durov, co-founder and CEO of encrypted messaging app Telegram, announced a major change to his platform’s privacy policies on Monday, agreeing to provide users’ IP addresses and phone numbers to government authorities in response to valid legal requests. This unexpected departure from Telegram’s firm stance against content moderation comes one month after Durov was detained in France and charged with failing to stop criminal behavior on the app.
“Over the last few weeks, a dedicated team of moderators, leveraging AI, has made Telegram Search much safer,” Durov said in an official statement shared to his Telegram channel. “All the problematic content we identified in Search is no longer accessible.”
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As Valuetainment previously reported, Durov, a Russian national with dual citizenship in France and the United Arab Emirates, was arrested by French authorities last month in an incident many saw as a shot across the bow of internet free speech advocates like X owner Elon Musk. Durov was accused of facilitating crimes including drug trafficking and child pornography, and was held for questioning for four days before being released on a five million euro bail. He has since been prohibited from leaving France and is required to check in with police twice per week.
Prior to this incident, Telegram had a reputation for strong user privacy and was often reluctant to turn over any information to governments or law enforcement. This has made the app a haven for millions of users worldwide, including both free speech absolutists and the criminal element Durov is accused of enabling.
“Telegram Search is meant for finding friends and discovering news, not for promoting illegal goods,” the CEO’s statement continued. “We won’t let bad actors jeopardize the integrity of our platform for almost a billion users.”
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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