Will Telegram Bow to Government Pressure on Privacy? Lawyer Says Yes

Key takeaways:

In April, Pavel Durov called for communication devices with the same level of security as cryptocurrency wallets. In a conversation with Tucker Carlson, the Telegram founder said this would help protect user data from government surveillance.

Durov’s emphasis on protecting user chats from government intrusion foreshadowed the legal troubles he faced after his arrest by French authorities in late August. According to analysts, Durov’s ongoing legal battle against the French government puts user privacy on the line. It also sets a concerning precedent for rival social networks and their owners.

Daria Lysenko, a crypto lawyer with the law firm SBSB, said the regulatory environment is shifting, and tech companies like Telegram may be forced to comply with governments’ demands to share private user information.

“Governments around the world are introducing more stringent laws on data sharing, particularly in relation to terrorism, financial crime, and money laundering,” Lysenko told Cryptonews.

“For instance, the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Markets Act (DMA), as well as other regulations like the U.S. CLOUD Act, increase the pressure on tech companies to cooperate with government requests for user data,” she added.

Telegram’s Censorship-Resistant Policies

Durov was arrested at an airport on the outskirts of Paris, France, on Aug. 24. The Russian-born billionaire was charged with many crimes, including complicity in drug trafficking, dissemination of child pornography, fraud, money laundering, and illegal provision of cryptographic services.

Durov is currently out on bail of €5 million ($5.5 million). Telegram, used by nearly one billion people worldwide, is well known for its privacy and security. The Telegram CEO regularly emphasizes the platform’s censorship-resistance credentials and has vowed to maintain the status quo despite government pressure.

According to its website, Telegram’s servers are spread worldwide. As a result, the platform “can ensure that no single government or block (sic) of like-minded countries can intrude on people’s privacy and freedom of expression,” the company explains.

However, the messaging app has often found itself in the crosshairs of regulators over its laid-back content moderation policies. For example, in 2023, Brazil temporarily banned Telegram after it refused to disclose the data allegedly linked to neo-Nazi groups after violent attacks on schools.

In 2014, a year after creating Telegram, Durov was forced to leave Russia after the Federal Security Service (FSB) reportedly pressured him to sell his shareholding in the platform. A Moscow court later banned Telegram after it refused to share encryption keys with the secret service.

Today, Telegram is one of the most widely used social media platforms in Russia. The military uses the service to communicate the war effort, while civilians rely on it for unfiltered news coverage.

Analyst: Telegram ‘Situation Remains Uncertain’

For Lysenko, the SBSB crypto lawyer, Telegram’s situation remains sticky. She expects that the platform “will have to make some changes to its policies and spend more resources to combat illegal content.”

In doing so, Lysenko doesn’t believe that Telegram would “fully capitulate” to government pressure like Facebook. But it is possible that the service “will adopt a more selective approach to regulatory compliance,” she told Cryptonews. The lawyer, based in Ukraine, where Telegram is popular, added:

“This could involve limited cooperation with law enforcement in specific cases (e.g., terrorism, financial crime) while maintaining its commitment to protecting personal communications. Pavel Durov’s track record indicates that he will likely resist broad data-sharing demands, but external pressures—especially financial and regulatory—may force Telegram to find a middle ground in the future.”

Latest reports from the French media suggests that Telegram may have already capitulated. According to the Libération newspaper, Telegram has started to share user data with the Office of Juvenile Affairs (Ofmin) of the French National Police and Gendarmerie. The Information is expected to help law enforcement identify suspects involved in crimes against children, the report said.

Durov’s Arrest Sparks Debate on Free Speech

Durov’s arrest shook the world: the CEO of the popular social network being detained for the “sins” of Telegram users signaled disaster for the owners of rival social networks.

Elon Musk promptly denounced the arrest as an attack on free speech. Meanwhile, shortly after Durov’s arrest, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote a letter to Jim Jordan, chair of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, regretting the company’s decision to censor content considered by the Biden Administration as misinformation during the pandemic.

For Meredith Whittaker, the president of privacy-focused U.S-based social network Signal, Durov’s arrest shows that tech companies are “looking at a very volatile geopolitical environment,” Wired reported.

Governments are concerned that social media is becoming too powerful in shaping public opinion, analysts say. In the U.S., the government is pushing to ban TikTok on national security grounds, while the Brazilian Supreme Court suspended X on Sept. 2 over the limits of free speech. Meanwhile, the EU is enacting a raft of laws to curb the influence of social networks.

User Privacy Hangs in the Balance

In his post-bail release statement, Durov castigated his arrest and spoke of many conversations that happened behind the scenes. The seemingly brave statement gave subtle hints that the billionaire may be considering complying with some of the demands from the French authorities.

“Telegram’s abrupt increase in user count to 950M caused growing pains that made it easier for criminals to abuse our platform,” Durov wrote. “That’s why I made it my personal goal to ensure we significantly improve things in this regard. We’ve already started that process internally, and I will share more details on our progress with you very soon.”

It was a clear departure from Durov’s strong declaration of autonomy and strict reverence for privacy over the years. Days later, Telegram updated its frequently asked questions (FAQs), changing the tone of how it handles privacy and potentially criminal conversations.

In the past, the FAQs read, “All Telegram chats and group chats are private amongst their participants. We do not process any requests related to them.”

Around Sept. 6, the FAQs changed to suggest that Telegram will start to moderate content, in accordance with the EU’s Digital Services Act. While the reaction partly fulfilled the wish list shared by the French government, Telegram insisted that it is not changing its privacy policy or approach.

Beyond this, Telegram seems like a surveillance-ready system waiting for the “appropriate” government pressure to emerge.

According to David Thiel, the chief technologist from Stanford Internet Observatory, Telegram’s technology does not prevent third parties from spying on users because chats are not encrypted end-to-end by default, like WhatsApp. The company promises only not to moderate tightly.

“To the extent that they are marketing user privacy and free speech, it’s not about their tech; it’s about their behavior,” Thiel told The New Yorker.

Thiel said their systems flagged child sexual-abuse material on Telegram but nothing happened to the groups involved. “The fact that we were able to detect that content means that they [Telegram] would be able to detect it perfectly fine as well,” he added.

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