Telegram says it will share phone numbers and IP addresses of ‘bad actors’ to authorities

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2024-09-23 17:00:07

The popular messaging service Telegram has updated its terms of service to discourage “bad actors” from “jeopardizing the integrity” of the platform, according to its founder Pavel Durov.

Durov said on Monday that Telegram will now disclose the IP addresses and phone numbers of users who violate the app’s rules to relevant authorities “in response to valid legal requests.”

Previously, Telegram had only committed to disclosing users' phone numbers and IP addresses if it received a court order confirming the user was suspected of terrorism. According to Telegram’s transparency report, that has never happened before.

The new policy applies to users suspected of any violation of Telegram’s rules. The company said that before disclosing user data, it will “conduct a legal analysis” of the request from the authorities. These measures will be “consistent across the world,” according to Durov.

In recent weeks, Telegram moderators have used artificial intelligence to make the platform’s search feature “much safer,” and according to Durov the flagged problematic content has been made inaccessible.