Are Your Telegram Messages Safe After CEO Arrested?

• Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov Arrested in France.
• Telegram’s end-to-end encryption comes into question. 
• Users may see the risk of message exposure. 

The Telegram messaging app has long touted its privacy focus, with its CEO Pavel Durov outspoken about privacy and freedom of speech. However, since its recent arrest in France, many users have become concerned about governments putting pressure on Telegram to share sensitive user information with them. 

As it turns out, Telegram may not offer as robust privacy measures as many users think it does. Moreover, many users likely don’t know about Telegram’s features, which provide strong security. Still, this means that there are specific steps users can take to ensure they are using Telegram securely.  

Why Was Telegram CEO Pavel Durov Arrested? 

French authorities arrested Pavel Durov, Telegram’s CEO, on Saturday, August 24, at Le Bourget airport for allegedly facilitating criminal activities on Telegram. 

Authorities stated that he refused to cooperate or take measures against the misuse of the Telegram app. They claimed that drug traffickers, terrorists, and people engaged in the distribution of child abuse material used the app for their purposes. 

Despite the claims from French authorities, there are legitimate reasons why regular people might not want governments reading their messages. This is why many in the tech community and digital rights activists criticized the arrest. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, and activist Edward Snowden criticized the arrest as a push for more surveillance and an attack on free speech. 

The arrest of @Durov is an assault on the basic human rights of speech and association. I am surprised and deeply saddened that Macron has descended to the level of taking hostages as a means for gaining access to private communications. It lowers not only France, but the world.

— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) August 25, 2024

For that reason, many Telegram users are worried that governments will be able to read their messages if they pressure the site. 

Are Telegram Messages Encrypted? 

Telegram chats are encrypted, but it’s not as straightforward as users might hope. Messages on Telegram are encrypted, but Telegram retains the decryption keys, which Buterin criticized the app for. This means that the company could access the contents if compelled by legal authorities. 

I've criticized Telegram before for not being serious with encryption.

But (given the info available so far: the charge seems to be just being "unmoderated" and not giving up people's data), this looks very bad and worrying for the future of software and comms freedom in Europe.

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) August 25, 2024

Still, Telegram explains that it protects users from data requests thanks to its distributed infrastructure across different countries. Data and keys are stored in different countries, meaning “no single government or block of like-minded countries can intrude on people’s privacy and freedom of expression.” 

Telegram claims that it has disclosed “0 bytes of user data to third parties, including governments,” on its FAQ page. However, should their policy change, the company could technically access most user messages and group chats. 

The platform provides end-to-end encryption only in its “Secret Chats” feature, which is not enabled by default. Moreover, it is also not supported for Telegram channels and group chats. In contrast, WhatsApp and Signal messages are, by default, end-to-end encrypted. 

This has not stopped Durov from attacking both platforms in the future, suggesting that the US government has back-doored them. He claimed that the US spent $3 million to build Signal’s encryption,” the same protocol that  “WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Google Messages, and even Skype” use. 

Are My Telegram Messages Safe? 

The lack of end-to-end encryption on regular messages means that, if compelled, Telegram could enable authorities to examine the messages. It also means that Telegram can examine messages for any reason, even though the company denies doing so. 

Users concerned about the security of their Telegram messages should enable the secret chats feature. The feature is available from the profile page of the user they want to contact. 

As for older regular chats, Telegram enables users to delete the entire chat history for both members. However, as these are not end-to-end encrypted messages, there is no guarantee that any record of them is not present somewhere. 

On the Flipside

• Despite its claims that it does not share data with third parties, Telegram can still access user messages for its own purposes. 
• Telegram has previously stated that it complies with all EU laws despite claiming it never shared any information with governments. 

 Why This Matters

The arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov brought to attention issues with digital security. For millions of Telegram users, it’s important to understand the level of protection these platforms offer. 

Read more about Durov’s vision for a freer Internet: 
Telegram CEO Proposes Crypto-Like Tech to Block Govt Spying

Read more about security threats: 
How to Protect Your Crypto From The AMOS Malware for Mac