Newly released data from messaging app Telegram reveals a sharp increase in the number of data demands it has filled over the past year for users' data, from requests from law enforcement agencies.
An increase in fulfilled user requests comes after a few months French authorities have arrested Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in August for the company's longstanding refusal to provide user data in response to a child exploitation investigation. Telegram soon after Durov's arrest Its policy has been seen to relax How it handles reports of abuse.
Telegram's latest transparency data — which can only be requested through a Telegram account and is limited to the region where the requesting user is located — shows that the messaging app handed over phone numbers and IP addresses to US authorities 900 times in 2024, affecting 2,253 Telegram users.
This is a spike in the number of data requests fulfilled compared to most of 2024, which saw Telegram respond to 14 requests for user data from a total of 108 users, according to a Global crowdsourced map of requests produced by Meduza.
Telegram's transparency statistics for 2024 also show that the messaging app gave phone numbers and IP addresses to Indian authorities 14,641 times, affecting 23,535 users. For the United Kingdom, Telegram said it provided phone numbers and IP addresses to UK authorities a total of 142 times, affecting 293 users, a single-digit increase in the previous reporting period.
TechCrunch's Carly Page in the UK and Jagmeet Singh in India contributed to the report.
(via 404 media)