Telegram Confirms it Gave U.S. User Data to the Cops

Telegram, the messaging platform much mentioned in the recent news, has always been regarded as a kind of communication safe from any kind of gaze: whether it belongs to malicious persons or the authorities. The confidentiality guaranteed to its users has built a certain reputation for the application in question, although recent events are undermining this high public regard.

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov came under the spotlight during the last days of August due to his arrest on French soil. The man was seized following his company's unwillingness to cooperate with the authorities in a child abuse investigation, refusing to provide the data of the users involved.

Following this unexpected development, the platform changed its privacy policy, which now states that in the event of an order placed by the authorities confirming a user's involvement as a potential suspect in an investigation that violates Telegram's terms and conditions, the company will perform a legal analysis of the request and may share the user's IP address and phone number with the authorities.