Pavel Durov Defends Telegram's Privacy Changes Amid User Unrest

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov contiguous defended caller changes to his platform, amid concerns his apprehension successful France has made the messaging app much compliant with ineligible requests to stock idiosyncratic information with the authorities.

Durov attempted to minimize the value of changes made to the app since helium was arrested successful August and charged with complicity successful a scope of crimes, including spreading intersexual images of children. He was forbidden from leaving France for six months and indispensable look astatine a constabulary presumption doubly a week.

In his post, the 39-year-old indirectly addressed speculation that Telegram whitethorn fortify its notoriously light-touch contented moderation arsenic a effect of his arrest. “Our halfway principles haven’t changed,” Durov stressed, successful a station connected the platform. “We’ve ever strived to comply with applicable section laws—as agelong arsenic they didn’t spell against our values of state and privacy.”

He attributed a caller uptick successful the fig of EU ineligible requests received and considered valid by the app implicit the past respective months to European authorities opening to usage the close Telegram email address.

Yet since Durov’s arrest, Telegram has introduced a bid of subtle changes. In precocious August, the company’s FAQ leafage read: “To this day, we person disclosed 0 bytes of idiosyncratic information to 3rd parties, including governments.” Now the operation “user data” has been replaced with “user messages.” Telegram did not reply to WIRED’s petition for remark asking what precisely this alteration means.

Then, aboriginal successful September, Telegram softly made it imaginable for users to study amerciable contented successful backstage and radical chats for moderators to review. Later that aforesaid month, Durov besides announced Telegram had changed its presumption of work to forestall the app’s maltreatment by criminals and would stock idiosyncratic locations successful effect to ineligible requests. “We’ve made it wide that the IP addresses and telephone numbers of those who interruption our rules tin beryllium disclosed to applicable authorities,” helium said astatine the time.

Today, Durov framed those changes arsenic a technicality. “Since 2018, Telegram has been capable to disclose IP addresses/phone numbers of criminals to authorities,” helium explained. Although past week helium said that privateness policies successful antithetic countries had been “unified,” helium insisted that “in reality, small has changed.”

What has changed, however, is Durov’s tone. For years, Telegram cultivated an representation arsenic a proudly anti-authority level that was politically neutral, portion governments and integer rights groups bemoaned however hard it was to interaction its moderators.

Now, determination are signs Durov is adopting a much conciliatory cognition toward the authorities. That has prompted panic among immoderate of the app’s little savory users, including German extremists and Russian subject bloggers, who person expressed interest that the CEO’s apprehension whitethorn beryllium an effort to entree their data. Durov’s connection contiguous carried yet different informing to them. “We bash not let criminals to maltreatment our level oregon evade justice,” helium said.