After the arrest, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov updated the app's security and privacy policies, the IP addresses and phone numbers of those who violate rules can be disclosed to authorities in valid legal requests. A significant change considering that Telegram was considered one of the applications with a somewhat higher level of anonymity.
They claim it was their decision, but apparently, the arrest pushed the matter.
It may be a good thing in detecting scams, but it will significantly affect all businesses that rely on anonymity on Telegram.
Durov's (CEO of Telegram) article regarding the Telegram Terms of Service and Privacy Policy:
https://t.me/durov/345Over 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. If you still manage to find something unsafe or illegal in Telegram Search, please report it to us via @SearchReport.
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.
We are going in a very wrong direction. At first, we had no-kyc services, but they got banned. Then Bitcoin mixers got banned, now privacy-focused messaging app gets banned. What's next? Decentralization is a great escape for us. We need a platform where people will be able to send encrypted messages but there will be no central power capable of revealing any information. Imagine, if Bitcoin wasn't decentralized, they would set censorship on Bitcoin transactions.
Telegram would not just give out your private information if it is not requested legally by a security agency or the government, so if you have no bad intentions and are not a scammer or cybercriminal, the Telegram app is still considered very safe for your use, although no longer private.
Are there guarantees? Are you sure that Telegram won't reveal absolutely every info about you? I think that giving away information if the government requests, is a mascarade. You never know when they give away your info and when not. For your safety, it's better to assume that you are monitored without official request from government