Telegram messaging claims to have responded to more than 200 requests from French judicial authorities in the third quarter

The founder of the platform, Pavel Dourov, is indicted in France for several offenses. However, he assures that the increased communication of data on users is linked to practical questions, and has nothing to do with his legal troubles.

Should we see this as a sign of increased cooperation with the justice system? Telegram messaging claims to have responded to 210 requests made by French judicial authorities in the third quarter, by communicating the IP addresses and/or telephone numbers of 632 users of the service. Until then, this data was transmitted slowly, with only four requests satisfied in the first quarter, then six in the second quarter.

Arrested at the end of August in France, Pavel Dourov was indicted for numerous offenses linked to his messaging application and he is still prohibited from leaving French territory. At the end of September, Telegram announced a change to its moderation rules in order to collaborate more with the judicial authorities. “We have clarified that the IP addresses and mobile phone numbers of those who violate our rules may be provided to authorities in response to valid legal requests.”Pavel Durov then wrote on his Telegram channel.

However, the founder of the messaging service ensures that this increased cooperation, during the third quarter, has no link with his legal troubles. In a new message on Wednesday, he claims that the relevant judicial authorities have finally started “to use the correct communication channel to address their requests, that provided for by the European DSA regulation on digital services”. In order to convince his subscribers, the founder of Telegram takes the example of Brazil, where Telegram responded to 75 requests issued by local authorities, or India, with 2,461 requests deemed admissible over the same period.

“Each time we received a properly formulated legal request using the lines of communication providedargues Pavel Durov, “We would verify it and then release the IP addresses and/or phone numbers of dangerous criminals.” Founded in 2013, the messaging service, which has always claimed to respect European laws, has been committed since its beginnings to never revealing information about its users. The previous rules only provided for collaboration with the justice system in the event that a user was declared a “suspect of terrorist activities” by a court.

“My previous message [publié fin septembre] perhaps seemed to announce a major change in the way Telegram workshe assures in his last post. But in reality, little has changed.”. He now prefers to talk about “a streamlining of the privacy policy in different countries”without “the fundamental principles of messaging have not been modified”. “We have always strived to respect applicable local laws, as long as they do not conflict with our values ​​of freedom and privacy.”