ALBAWABA - According to Pavel Durov, Chief Executive Officer of Telegram, the messaging service will now disclose IP addresses and phone numbers of some of its users to the appropriate authorities in response to legitimate legal demands.
As stated by Durov in a message that was published on Telegram on Monday, the platform modified its terms of service in order to prevent criminals from exploiting it. This action arrives less than a month following his arrest in France, where he is being held on allegations of suspected cooperation in the spread of child-exploiting content.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Wasn't this the main reason why someone would choose Telegram over Whatsapp?<br><br>Now what?</p>— Emmett Burton (@emmettito_) <a href="https://twitter.com/emmettito_/status/1838247030231331214?ref_src=twsrc…">September 23, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The platform based in the United Arab Emirates has an established track record for being persistently unresponsive to removal demands from governments all around the globe and often refused requests for information regarding individuals suspected of committing crimes, according to Bloomberg.
As part of its attempts toward preventing abuse, Telegram has now started to hide potentially harmful information from its search results, according to Durov, in a measure that is implemented with the assistance of artificial intelligence and a team of moderators.
On his Telegram post, Durov stated “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,” adding “We won’t let bad actors jeopardize the integrity of our platform for almost a billion users.”
In an effort to rectify its questionable image, Telegram altered the phrasing it uses to describe the moderation of private chats earlier this month, while also halting the uploading of material to its anonymous blogging tool, Telegraph, and deactivated the notoriously abused ‘People Nearby’ function.
