Newly filed court records offer a rare, concrete look at what happens when Telegram complies with U.S. law enforcement. A letter written by Telegram includes a user's phone number, user ID, IP address, and a timestamp, along with a note that the data was provided "voluntarily." The company also added that sharing the information was not an admission that it is subject to U.S. jurisdiction for this or any other request.
The letter surfaced in a case against Mahmoud Amin Ya'qub Al-Muhtadi, who is accused of participating in the October 7 attacks against Israel. A related government filing says the data was produced in response to a court order under the Stored Communications Act. The letter also exposes Telegram's non-public email address for U.S. law enforcement requests, which hackers could try to exploit by impersonating officials.
According to 404 Media, Telegram has shifted from a company that rarely provided data to authorities to one that now does so routinely, like other major platforms. That change followed the arrest of CEO Pavel Durov in France in August 2024. As of last January, Telegram had given U.S. authorities data on 2,253 users.