In a recent transparency report, Telegram, the widely used messaging app, acknowledged its compliance with multiple data requests from U.S. law enforcement agencies this year. The report, released by Telegram’s transparency bot, revealed that the company fulfilled 14 requests from the U.S. government for IP addresses and/or phone numbers, affecting a total of 108 users.
This disclosure comes after the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov in August by French authorities, partly due to Telegram’s refusal to provide user data in a child abuse investigation. Following the arrest, Telegram updated its privacy policy to state that it may disclose user IP addresses and phone numbers to relevant authorities in cases involving criminal activities that violate Telegram’s Terms of Service.
The data released in the report also highlights Telegram’s compliance with legal requests in other countries. In Brazil, the company disclosed data for 75 legal requests in the first quarter of 2024, 63 in the second quarter, and 65 in the third quarter. In India, Telegram’s largest market, the company complied with 2461 legal requests in the first quarter, 2151 in the second quarter, and 2380 in the third quarter.
This development underscores the increasing pressure on tech companies to cooperate with law enforcement agencies. Last month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed that his company faced pressure from the Biden administration to restrict specific content on its platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Zuckerberg also indicated that he would push back against similar pressures in the future.
U.S. authorities and law enforcement agencies are known to demand user data from major tech companies twice as often as their EU counterparts. Data from Surfshark shows that global government requests for user information from major tech companies like Apple, Google, Meta, and Microsoft have surged almost eightfold from 2013 to 2022. In 2022 alone, the number of requests rose from 1.6 million to 2.2 million, reflecting a significant increase.
Telegram’s transparency report provides a glimpse into the growing tension between user privacy and the need for law enforcement to access data in the digital age. As technology continues to evolve, the debate over the balance between these two crucial aspects is likely to intensify.
