If a court order identifies you as a criminal suspect for activities that also violate Telegram's rules, Telegram can hand over your IP address and phone number to law enforcement, and will report such disclosures quarterly.
This analysis describes what Telegram's agreement states, permits, or reserves. It does not constitute a legal determination about enforceability. Regulatory applicability and practical outcomes may vary by jurisdiction, enforcement context, and individual circumstances. Read our methodology
This provision defines the conditions under which Telegram will identify users to authorities, which is directly relevant to users' expectations of anonymity on the platform.
Interpretive note: The policy does not specify which jurisdictions' judicial orders Telegram will recognize or whether it has ever declined to comply with a valid order on ToS grounds, leaving the practical enforceability of the dual-threshold requirement uncertain.
Users should be aware that their IP address and phone number are not protected from law enforcement disclosure if a valid judicial order is obtained, though Telegram states it requires both a judicial order and a Terms of Service violation before complying.
How other platforms handle this
To opt out of the offline disclosure of your information to third parties for these purposes, please email us at privacy@makenotion.com.
We may provide an option for users to opt into the disclosure of their demographic data in a manner and to an extent that may lead to loss of their anonymity.
If you choose to reveal any personal information about yourself to other users, you do so at your own risk. We strongly encourage you to use caution in disclosing any personal information online.
"If Telegram receives a valid order from the relevant judicial authorities that confirms you're a suspect in a case involving criminal activities that violate the Telegram Terms of Service, we will perform a legal analysis of the request and may disclose your IP address and phone number to the relevant authorities. If any data is shared, we will include such occurrences in a quarterly transparency report published at: https://t.me/transparency.Excerpt from Telegram's Privacy Policy
REGULATORY LANDSCAPE: This provision engages GDPR Article 6(1)(c) (legal obligation) and Article 23 (restrictions on data subject rights for law enforcement purposes), as well as national laws implementing the EU's Law Enforcement Directive (LED).
Enforcement risk, jurisdiction flags, contract triggers, and due diligence action items.
Ad personalization controls removed. Contact scanning added. Advertiser data partnerships quietly dropped. A timeline of every change.
Get the research letter
Companies change their terms quietly. We read every version and catch what actually changed. One email a week on the changes that matter and what they mean.
This provision defines the conditions under which Telegram will identify users to authorities, which is directly relevant to users' expectations of anonymity on the platform.
Users should be aware that their IP address and phone number are not protected from law enforcement disclosure if a valid judicial order is obtained, though Telegram states it requires both a judicial order and a Terms of Service violation before complying.
ConductAtlas has identified this type of provision across 289 platforms. See the full comparison.
No. ConductAtlas is an independent monitoring service. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Telegram.