Durov takes off his mask: Telegram has been revealing the data of criminals for 6 years

[Man]

The messenger cooperates with the authorities if there are official requests.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov explained the details of the messenger's policy regarding the disclosure of user data to the authorities in his Telegram channel. In the message, he stressed that there have been no significant changes in the work of Telegram, despite recent publications that could cause such an impression.

According to the Privacy Policy, which has been in effect since 2018, Telegram has the right to transfer the IP addresses and phone numbers of criminals to government agencies. Such measures are applied only if there is a properly executed legal request. As Durov notes, this practice existed long before the recent events, and only correctly executed requests receive a positive decision.

To demonstrate the transparency of work in this direction, a bot @transparency was created. This bot provides statistics on processed legal requests for data disclosure. For example, in the first quarter of 2024 in Brazil, Telegram satisfied 75 such requests, in the second - 63, and in the third - 65. In India, the messenger's largest market, the numbers are higher, with 2,461 searches in the first quarter, 2,151 in the second, and 2,380 in the third.

In Europe, there was an increase in the number of legal requests in the third quarter, which is due to the fact that more EU authorities began to use the EU's prescribed DSA communication lines to file applications. Information about such a contact point has been available since the beginning of 2024 on the Telegram website.

Pavel Durov also noted that last week the privacy policy was optimized and unified for different countries, which was done to reduce confusion. However, the key principles of Telegram's work remain unchanged. Messenger has always sought to follow local laws, but only when they do not contradict its values of freedom and privacy.

In a statement, Durov stressed that Telegram was created to protect activists and ordinary people from corrupt governments and corporations, while preventing attackers from using the platform to evade justice.

Source

 

[Man]

Rats are fleeing ship: what do cybercriminals plan to replace Telegram with?
The messenger's new policy regarding content moderation makes adjustments to the activities of hackers.

Recently, Telegram announced significant changes to its privacy policy. On September 23, 2024, co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov said that the platform would strengthen moderation and transfer certain user data at the request of the authorities.

Now the messenger will disclose IP addresses and phone numbers of users upon legitimate requests. In addition, the company used a team of moderators and artificial intelligence to remove illegal content. And for complaints about prohibited content, a special bot @SearchReport has even been launched.

The changes followed after France charged Durov with aiding and abetting illegal activities on the platform. He was charged with assisting in the distribution of materials with sexual abuse of children, drug trafficking and tools for hackers, as well as money laundering.

In addition, Durov was accused of refusing to provide user data to the authorities. On March 25, 2024, France reportedly issued an arrest warrant for Durov and his brother Nikolai after refusing to identify one of the users wanted in connection with a child sexual abuse investigation. However, Durov is now at large, although he cannot leave France until the investigation is completed.

Against the backdrop of sudden changes in Telegram's policy and more active actions to identify abuse of the platform, cybercriminals have already begun to discuss finding alternative communication channels. Some groups and hacktivists have openly announced their move to other platforms, such as Signal, Session, Jabber, and Tox. Recommendations on the use of these messengers, as well as discussions of their advantages and disadvantages, began to appear on hacker forums.

While Signal and Session are gaining attention because of their strong focus on privacy, they lack a number of Telegram features, including bot capabilities and large groups. Also, these platforms do not provide an open API, which limits their flexibility for cybercriminals. Decentralized messengers like Tox, Jabber, and Matrix are also considered as possible alternatives, but they also have their own limitations in terms of functionality and reliability.

Despite discussions about moving to other platforms, Telegram remains popular among cybercriminals due to its large number of users and advanced features that are difficult to find in one place. This is likely to continue to attract cybercriminals, but some of them will definitely change the messenger they use to increase the privacy of their malicious operations.

 

[Man]

"Representatives of the Telegram leadership may hold an informal meeting with a number of Russian officials.

Sources in the messenger team claim that the dialogue will take place "within the framework of the company's new policy, which involves cooperation with the authorities and special services of certain states, but within reasonable limits." "Requests and ideas of representatives of the Kremlin and the Cabinet of Ministers of the Russian Federation will be listened to. It is not planned to advertise the details of such contacts," one of the insiders clarifies. Another interlocutor clarifies that "most likely, such a meeting will take place not in Russia, but on the territory of one of the states friendly to Moscow".

© Kremlin whisperer

——

Were there those who believed in the anonymity of telegrams? The only mode that can be used is a secret chat, in which the keys are stored only on the devices of the interlocutors. In all other cases, learn to choose open source messengers.

Below I will attach a table with the rating, save, repost.

And remember: Just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean you're not being watched.

+ Macron again commented on the arrest of Pavel Durov, this time by American journalists. He hinted that the change in Telegram's privacy terms made after this event will resolve the situation with the criminal case against the founder of the platform.

"There was no political decision behind this arrest, only the actions of our justice system in response to the violations of the law that it observed. Without guarantees, some platforms have contributed to the rise of intolerance and hatred. It is also a platform for those who work against democracy. Under the guise of protecting freedom of expression, zones of total lawlessness flourish. For us, the Governments, this is unacceptable.

Digital players have a duty to cooperate in the fight against all illegal online activity, and our justice system is empowered to act in cases of violation. That's what happened when the founder of Telegram was detained by the French judicial system for refusing to cooperate.

Justice will take its course without interference, but I note that its founder has announced that he has updated the platform's terms of service and privacy policy in order to ensure compliance with the basic rules of public order on the platform. In particular, he announced that he was ready to cooperate with the authorities in case of illegal activity on the platform, which is a decisive step forward. With each revolution comes a period of adaptation. This episode showed us that nothing is inevitable when it comes to the big digital players, and that citizens and their governments have the power to set the rules and implement them".

 

[Man]

Telegram blocked over 15 million groups in 2024.

The Telegram messenger summed up the statistical results of 2024, announcing the blocking of 15.3 million groups and channels. On some days, over 200 thousand publics fell victim to the service administration's activity.

"Telegram blocks tens of thousands of groups and channels every day and removes millions of content elements that violate the Terms of Service. We are talking about incitement to violence, distribution of materials about child abuse and trade in illegal goods," the messenger's website says.

Telegram admitted that one of the biggest problems over the years of the messenger's existence has been child pornography (CSAM). This year, the company began to cooperate with the non-governmental organization Internet Watch Foundation, which actively fights the distribution of such content. The number of thematic communities blocked in the last 11 months alone has exceeded 700 thousand.

“Since 2018, publicly available images have been automatically checked against a database of CSAM hashes removed by our moderators over the past decade,” Telegram stated.