Telegram Sees Surge in Data Sharing with Law Enforcement

Telegram processed almost 1,000 US law enforcement requests in the months following its CEO’s incarceration in France, compared to just 14 between January 1 and September 30, 2024.

According to data from the messaging app’s most recent transparency report, Telegram has been fulfilling thousands of law enforcement data demands in the few months since it declared it would do more to cooperate with authorities. The amount of requests for user data from inquiring law enforcement organizations that the app has satisfied has increased significantly over the previous 12 months.

Telegram shared “IP addresses and/or phone numbers” of Telegram users with US law enforcement across 14 fulfilled requests between January 1 and September 30 of last year, affecting 108 Telegram users, according to a quick check with the Transparency Reports bot on Telegram, which has a “verified” checkmark next to its name.

The increase in user requests that were satisfied occurs months after Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested by French authorities in August, partly due to the company’s persistent refusal to release user data in response to an inquiry into child exploitation. Telegram seemed to loosen its rules regarding the handling of abuse reports shortly after Durov’s arrest.

The messaging platform gave phone numbers and IP addresses to U.S. authorities 900 times in 2024, affecting 2,253 individuals, according to Telegram’s most recent transparency data, which can only be accessed by users who have a Telegram account and is restricted to the location in which the request is made.

The amount of completed data requests is more than it was for most of 2024, when, according to a global crowdsourced map of requests created by Meduza, Telegram responded to 14 requests for user data on 108 users. (More recent Telegram transparency data is available here.)

The 2024 transparency data for Telegram also reveals that 23,535 individuals were impacted on 14,641 occasions when the messaging platform sent IP addresses and phone numbers to Indian authorities. According to Telegram, it provided IP addresses and phone numbers to UK authorities 142 times in total, impacting 293 users, up from just one digit during the prior reporting period.

However, the amount of US law enforcement demands that were fulfilled increased significantly after September 30. Last year, 886 US law enforcement requests were met between October 1 and December 31, affecting 2,145 users, bringing the annual total to 900 fulfilled US requests that affected 2,253 users.

Telegram promised in September to provide police with users’ IP addresses and phone numbers linked to their accounts upon request in order to “further deter criminals from abusing Telegram Search,” as billionaire Telegram CEO Pavel Durov wrote at the time. This increase in fulfilled requests was reported by 404 Media on Monday. Prior to then, Telegram had stated that it had never been ordered by a court to declare a user to be a suspected terrorist, hence it never had to provide authorities with the details of such users.

To some, a few thousand US users annually may not seem like much given that Telegram is thought to have 950 million users worldwide. However, the corporation is more willing to cooperate with law enforcement than it was previously, as seen by the more than 6,000% rise in fulfilled US demands.

A few months prior to that policy change, Durov was briefly arrested in France on charges that Telegram had been involved in a number of crimes by failing to provide authorities with sufficient assistance in their investigations into child sexual abuse, drug usage, and other crimes by disclosing suspect data. However, Telegram denied that Durov was directly accountable for user behaviour on the platform and claimed to be compliant with EU regulations. The CEO asserted shortly after Durov’s arrest that “growing pains“—which were partly brought on by an increasing user base—”made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform.”

Telegram has come under fire on numerous occasions for being a breeding ground for deepfake software, phishing kits, and malware-as-a-service bots. In phishing attempts, scammers often direct message Telegram users on the app, pretending to be Telegram or other organizations like recruiting managers or news sources. Cybercriminals are allegedly publishing phony Telegram Premium apps that are malware that steals your login information, according to more recent reports.

It’s important to keep in mind that Telegram conversations are not end-to-end encrypted by default, and that you could use a VPN to hide your IP address when creating and using an account. However, in order to use Telegram’s encrypted chat feature—as suggested by security expert Chelsea Manning—you must activate “Secret Chats.”

You may accomplish this on the iOS app by going to the Contacts tab. After that, long-press the name of the person you wish to initiate an encrypted E2E discussion with. Next, choose “Start Secret Chat” from the menu that appears. However, if you also use Telegram on your Mac or PC, be aware that Secret Chats are only viewable on the device you initiated them on.