Internet Telegram announces closer cooperation with the judiciary

Telegram CEO Pawel Durow has announced closer cooperation between his online service and law enforcement authorities.

At the request of courts, the "IP addresses and cell phone numbers of those who violate our rules" could be passed on to the authorities in future, wrote the exiled Russian Durov on Telegram on Monday.

According to him, "problematic content" has also been deleted from the platform in recent weeks with the help of artificial intelligence.

Since its founding in 2013, Telegram has established itself as an alternative to US platforms. As a rule, the online service refuses to hand over user data to the authorities. Exceptions were previously only made for cases in which users were classified as suspected terrorists by a court.

Durov was arrested in France at the end of August. Among other things, the French judiciary accused the 39-year-old billionaire of not doing enough to combat the spread of criminal and extremist content on Telegram. Durov was released on bail, but is not allowed to leave France for the time being.

In a statement at the beginning of September, he called it "surprising" that he was being held responsible for the content shared by other people on his platform.

However, he admitted that the sharp rise in the number of users of the online service was causing "growing pains that make it easier for criminals to abuse our platform". He had therefore made it his personal goal to "noticeably improve things in this regard".