Telegram already provides the police with data on Spanish users: these are the ones affected

There has rarely been a change as notable as the one Telegram included in its privacy policy. The platform, which once boasted of resisting government demands, took a 180-degree turn after the arrest of its CEO, Pavel Durov, in France. And now we are starting to notice the changes, with the publication of a transparency report on Telegram’s collaboration with the judiciary.

Although technically Telegram already had terms prohibiting criminal and illegal use of the app, in practice it was more of a warning than anything else; He was criticized for collaborating only in the most serious cases, such as terrorism; With the new conditions of use, updated in September, things are different and the company collaborates with justice to arrest suspected criminals using their platform

Now Telegram can share user data with the police, such as IP address and phone numberwhich can be used to identify them; although the company defends itself by claiming that it only shares data in cases of violation of the aforementioned terms of service.

Just a few weeks after this update, we already have an idea of ​​how this user identification system works. And Telegram published a transparency reportin which it specifies how it collaborates with justice and how many users are concerned.

However, the report is somewhat difficult to find, because instead of publishing a document like the rest of the technology companies do, Telegram offers this information through a “bot” accessible only through the application, as they revealed in 404Medium. Not only that, but the bot’s usefulness is somewhat questionable, as it only displays limited data related to the country we are searching for. Still, it’s better than nothing, and it allows us to see how many Spanish users were affected.

Between January 1 and September 30, 2024, Telegram processed 22 requests from Europe to identify users, obtaining their IP address or phone number. In all, 85 users were affected and their contact details were shared with the police.

The difference between the number of requests and the number of users affected means that a large part of the requests made concern the famous Telegram groups; Like WhatsApp groups, they are a way to bring together people with similar interests, but in the case of Telegram, they have become a hotbed of crime and illegal activity, such as downloading links to content protected by copyright. This is the reason why a judge tried to shut down Telegram in Europealthough he later backtracked due to the consequences it would have for the app’s millions of innocent users.

It must be taken into account that the report only counts requests received until the end of last September; the effects of Telegram’s new policy are therefore not yet fully reflected. The company announced that it will publish the next report in January 2025, and this will likely be when the true level of Telegram’s collaboration with the judiciary can truly be verified.