Operators of the messenger app Telegram transferred personal information of its users to the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), deviating from the company’s earlier claims of shielding such data from governments.
The personal data is related to users who were suspects of terrorism and child abuse crimes, according to Spiegel. In the case of other crimes, it is still difficult for German authorities to get data from Telegram.
The move comes across as a softening of the company’s stance on private data. German investigators, for a long time, have never received any positive responses from Telegram whenever they requested the company to reveal the identities of people behind online criminal content….