Telegram Has Been Compromised, Will Now Provide Government With IP Addresses And Phone Numbers, Removes “Problematic Content”
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Popular social media and private messaging app Telegram, lauded as being a true and final protector of free speech and user privacy, has recently updated its Terms of Service and Privacy Policy that says the platform will now fork over users’ IP addresses and phone numbers to the government upon request.
The move comes after Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France on August 24th, after years of scrutiny from Western governments and media for not regulating and censoring its user base and cracking down on criminal and fraudulent activities on his platform.
Last week, The WinePress reported that Telegram quietly changed its privacy policy to allow users to report private messages to moderators.
Now it appears Durov may have had his hands forced again to make some changes to Telegram.
As of yesterday, Telegram has updated its privacy policy and terms of service, which say it will now provide IP addresses and phone numbers at the behest of police if the app’s rules are violated. Telegram has also updated its AI search system, limiting ‘inappropriate content.’
If Telegram receives a valid order from the relevant judicial authorities that confirms you’re a suspect in a case involving criminal activities that violate the Telegram Terms of Service, we will perform a legal analysis of the request and may disclose your IP address and phone number to the relevant authorities.
The new updated policy reads
Durov said in a post on Telegram: “We’ve made it clear that the IP addresses and phone numbers of those who violate our rules can be disclosed to relevant authorities in response to valid legal requests.” He added that dedicated moderators leveraging AI have updated Telegram Search to be “much safer,” and that “all the problematic content we identified in Search is no longer accessible.”
He added, “While 99.999% of Telegram users have nothing to do with crime, the 0.001% involved in illicit activities create a bad image for the entire platform, putting the interests of our almost billion users at risk.”
Reclaim The Net said in a report: ‘But what really forced Telegram’s hand? Let’s rewind to Durov’s August airport arrest, where things started to get clearer. After allegedly over 2,400 ignored requests for data, French authorities had had enough. They brought in the National Gendarmerie to get to the bottom of Telegram’s refusal to cooperate.’
‘Apparently, turning over data wasn’t an option until they started detaining CEOs,’ the online advocacy outlet concluded.
Banned In Ukraine
Last week, Ukraine banned the use of Telegram for government agencies, military, and critical infrastructure facilities, the Kyiv Independent reports, even though it’s the most popular social media app in the country with 44% of the people using it, per a survey in 2023.
The paper went on to write:
The app is also actively used by Russia, its military forces, and intelligence services to undermine Ukraine’s war effort and boost its own. Ukraine’s military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, earlier called the messenger app “harmful” and a “threat to our national security.”
During a recent meeting of the National Security and Defense Council, Budanov provided “substantiated evidence” that Russian intelligence services have access to Telegram users’ personal correspondence, even deleted messages, and their personal data.
I have always advocated freedom of speech, but the issue of Telegram is not a matter of freedom of speech, it is a matter of national security.
Budanov said.
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that Telegram is actively used by Russia for cyberattacks, spreading phishing and malware, establishing user geolocation, and adjusting missile strikes against Ukrainian cities and villages.
As a result, Ukraine’s cybersecurity center decided to ban the Telegram app on official devices of government officials, military personnel, employees of the security and defense sector, and critical infrastructure enterprises.
The only exceptions will be those for whom the use of this messenger is “part of their official duties,” according to the statement.
AUTHOR COMMENTARY
Welp, it looks like Telegram has officially been compromised…
However, I must point out the ABSURD hypocrisy of the Western governments and media their habitual railings against Telegram, and how the app allows criminal activity and fraud to take place unabated. So, you’re telling me that YouTube, Facebook, X, etc., doesn’t allow fraudulence and crimes on its platforms? Do I find the Telegram bot scams to be annoying? Oh yes, very; but then why doesn’t YouTube, for example, censor those; or when entire channels and people’s identities are emulated, and used to peddle scams and spam, that too does not get blocked and fixed?
Or even in the case of TikTok, where Trump wanted to ban it via executive order in 2020 (but has since pledged he won’t ban it), Biden and other bipartisan senators have vowed to ban it as well, because China is using it to spy on Americans and threaten U.S. security. Yeah, you tell us, you political hacks: ‘How dare the Chinese spy on us? Only we the American government can spy on you!’
The hypocrisy here is IMMENSE!
Job 6:25 How forcible are right words! but what doth your arguing reprove? [26] Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?
As I said in last week’s report on Telegram: ‘I never used Telegram (though I never really used any social media platform), but Telegram was one of the last few platforms that stayed neutral and allowed people to say what they wanted, and actually had encryption to protect the conversations. Looks like Durov was harassed into capitulating. It’s all downhill from here.’
Indeed, it has gone downhill in less than a week’s time. How much more will Telegram be made to comply in the weeks and months to come?
Moreover, I have said more than several times already that we will need to eventually, somehow, go “underground” and return to old-fashioned letter-writing campaigns, because the digital world will be off limits in the not-so distant future, specifically when the digital IDs are mandated.
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I’m a 39-year-old writer from the heart of Houston, Texas, deeply rooted in love for my country and its cherished principles of democracy and freedom of speech. Through my writing, I seek to amplify the voices of those who cherish these ideals and to spark meaningful discussions around the issues that matter most.
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