The Telegram messenger app will disclose to the authorities the phone numbers and IP addresses of those who violate its terms of use and privacy policy, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said on Sept. 23, introducing the latest updates.
Personal information will be provided to the authorities by "valid legal requests," Durov added.
The Telegram update comes after Durov's detention and subsequent arrest in France in late August.
Durov is charged with numerous offenses related to his social network, including allowing terrorism, drug trafficking, fraud, money laundering, and child abuse content on the app. The founder of the messaging app faces up to 20 years in prison.
Kateryna Denisova
Public channels and bots can be found on Telegram, but this feature is abused by people who sell illegal goods. Therefore, in the messenger app, a "special team of moderators, using artificial intelligence," made all the "problematic content" in the search inaccessible, Durov said.
"Telegram search is designed to find friends and news, not to promote illegal products. We won't allow malicious actors to jeopardize the integrity of our platform for nearly a billion users," the statement read.
The 39-year-old Telegram CEO and co-founder was detained at Le Bourget airport in France on Aug. 24. Durov was later charged and released under judicial control but without the right to leave the country.
Following Durov's arrest and release on bail worth five million euros ($5.5 million), Telegram began cooperating with the country's investigative authorities, French media Liberation reported on Sept. 10.
Durov, whose net worth is estimated at $15.5 billion, left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition channels on the Russian social media platform VK, which he subsequently sold.
Durov has claimed he is a pariah and has been effectively exiled from Russia, but on Aug. 27, it was reported he had visited Russia over 60 times since leaving the country, according to Kremlingram, a Ukrainian group that campaigns against the use of Telegram in Ukraine.
Telegram remains one of the most popular social media platforms among Ukrainians. A September 2023 poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology indicated that 44% of Ukrainians use Telegram to receive information and news.
Ukraine's National Coordination Center for Cybersecurity on Sept. 20 restricted the use of the Telegram messenger app for government agencies, military, and critical infrastructure facilities.
Ukraine's military intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, earlier called the messenger app "harmful" and a "threat to our national security."
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