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Telegram Removes Privacy Clause in FAQ, Announces Exit From 'Incompatible' Countries

Since CEO Pavel Durov's arrest, Telegram has revised some of its policy standards regarding privacy and state compatibility

Photo by Dima Solomin / Unsplash

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Following the arrest of its CEO, Telegram has made some rather significant policy changes.

Revised its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), Telegram removed a specific statement that previously read, "All Telegram chats and group chats are private amongst their participants. We do not process any requests related to them."

This has been replaced with "All Telegram apps have 'Report' buttons that let you flag illegal content for our moderators — in just a few taps."

This move came after Telegram's CEO Pavel Durov announced on his channel that Telegram is committed to engaging with regulators to find the right balance but that there will still be instances of disagreement."

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"Sometimes we can’t agree with a country’s regulator on the right balance between privacy and security. In those cases, we are ready to leave that country. We've done it many times", said Durov on his channel.

"When Russia demanded we hand over “encryption keys” to enable surveillance, we refused — and Telegram got banned in Russia. When Iran demanded we block channels of peaceful protesters, we refused — and Telegram got banned in Iran. We are prepared to leave markets that aren’t compatible with our principles", Durov added

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Durov also took this opportunity to refute claims that Telegram is some sort of anarchic paradise, "We take down millions of harmful posts and channels every day and we publish daily transparency reports (like this (http://t.me/stopCA) or this (https://t.me/isiswatch)" Durov claimed.

Recently, Telegram apologized to South Korean authorities for mishandling deepfake pornographic material shared via Telegram amid a digital sex crime epidemic in the country, as reported by the BBC.

Numerous Telegram chatrooms, operated by teenagers, have been discovered creating sexually explicit "deepfakes" using doctored photographs of young women.

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Telegram described the situation as "unfortunate" and expressed regret for any misunderstandings in a statement to South Korea's Communications Standards Commission (KCSC). The company stated it had deleted 25 videos due to KCSC's request.

In its latest communication to the KCSC, Telegram proposed creating a specialized email account for future correspondence with the regulatory body. The KCSC commended this project as "highly progressive" and acknowledged that Telegram had acknowledged the gravity of the situation.

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