Telegram will disclose users' phones and IP addresses to authorities at their requests, the messenger app's founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, said on September 23.
"To further deter criminals from abusing Telegram Search, we have updated our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, ensuring they are consistent across the world. We’ve made it clear that the IP addresses and phone numbers of those who violate our rules can be disclosed to relevant authorities in response to valid legal requests," Durov wrote on Telegram.
"Over the last few weeks, a dedicated team of moderators, leveraging AI, has made Telegram Search much safer. All the problematic content we identified in Search is no longer accessible," Durov wrote.
Durov, a native of Russia, was detained in Paris last month and later released on a $5.5 million bail for alleged "complicity in the administration of an online platform to allow an illicit transaction, in an organized gang."
SEE ALSO: Explainer: The Dark Side Of TelegramFrench prosecutors accuse the 39-year-old Durov of complicity in allowing drug trafficking and the sharing of sexual images of children on Telegram, and of refusing to share documents demanded by authorities investigating illegal activity on the app.
After his release on bail, Durov -- who has citizenship in France as well as Russia, the United Arab Emirates, and the Caribbean archipelago of St. Kitts and Nevis -- said in early September that his arrest was "misguided."
He acknowledged then that Telegram was "not perfect" and that "growing pains" had "made it easier for criminals to abuse the platform," but Durov said the app was driven by the "intention to bring good and defend the basic rights of people, particularly where these rights are violated."
Last week, the National Coordination Center for Cybersecurity of Ukraine, the country that has been fighting Russia's invasion since February 2022, banned the use of the Telegram for state officials, military personnel, and employees of key infrastructure, citing security issues.