Telegram privacy policy changed a month after CEO arrest

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov / (c) Getty Images

The messaging platform Telegram is changing their privacy policy in light of CEO Pavel Durov’s detainment in France last month. Durov was arrested and banned from traveling, charged with enabling illegal transactions on the platform.

Durov tried to stay firm with Telegram’s policies concerning free speech and restriction policies. This resulted in him facing an additional charge for not cooperating with the authorities.

From then until now, downloads for Telegram spiked. The platform rose in prominence as the second most downloaded social app in the United States. It has also surged in other parts of the world.

However, it seems that Telegram needs to comply as of date. The image above is from an X post, stating that the company is changing their privacy policies. This serves as a new means to report illegal content.

Telegram has also quietly removed a section from their FAQs, which states that the platform doesn’t monitor users’ conversations. Now, IP addresses and phone numbers of policy violators can be disclosed to relevant authorities. This is in compliance with valid legal requests.

Recently, Durov has said that Telegram is now complying with legal requests. The platform is also implementing new AI-powered monitoring tools to help fend off illegal activity.

Lastly, it now has a dedicated human team for content monitoring to remove problematic content. What do you guys think of the Telegram privacy policy changes?