Messaging apps that offer end-to-end encryption often pride themselves on protecting their users and their conversations Telegram goes even further, as its team claims to keep all users safe, regardless of whether or not they use an E2EE protocol, adding that requests for data by a government authority must depend on particularly serious reasons, so much so that until now the service has never found itself in the situation of having to provide data.
Well, this claim was denied in Germany by Der Spiegel, as sources claim that Telegram has satisfied a series of requests from the Federal Criminal Police Office concerning suspected cases of terrorism and child abuse.
Telegram and the difficult relations with the German government
Despite Der Spiegel’s report, still, today Telegram in the FAQ section of its website claims to have transferred “0 bytes of user data” to any third party, including government authorities while in section 8.3 of its privacy policy (the latest of which update dates back to 2018) the company claims that it will provide the authorities with the IP addresses and telephone numbers of users in the event of allegations relating to terrorism, specifying however that this has never happened and promising the publication of semi-annual reports on any disclosure activity (which instead did not happen).
According to reports, the German authorities have lobbied Telegram to aid it in investigations into right-wing extremist groups who have used this messaging platform to disseminate their programs and coordinate actions. In recent times, the Telegram team has worked hard to prevent abuse on this popular messaging platform, trying to ban groups deemed “dangerous” and limit illegal actions.
But the encryption-protected messaging sector represents a sort of “gray zone” in which it is difficult to combine the privacy claims of users with the necessary compliance with the laws and the security of the community.
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